


In the Morning You Go

by smallsthehero



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 21:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7818343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallsthehero/pseuds/smallsthehero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kylo Ren's ship crashes on Jakku, it is a reluctant Rey who takes him in. Though cautious of one another at first, the two bond over their knowledge of ships and eventually grow to understand one another a little better. Both realize just how much they need companionship in their lives, and hope that their newfound bond can last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

          The erratic beeping was loud in his ears as he struggled not to panic and fix the problem. He could not crash. Not now, not on this backwater planet. If he did, it could be days or even weeks before the First Order found him. Their tracking sensors often did not work on Jakku. He could already see the smug look on General Hux’s sharp face, standing there in the entryway to the rescue ship. Gloating that the great Kylo Ren needed saving.

          That, and he technically wasn’t supposed to be there. Stormtroopers and other First Order grunts were the ones whose job it was to find the piece of the map to Skywalker. Being an impatient person though and generally untrusting of the First Order’s efficiency, Kylo decided to go find it himself. And now his ship was failing and he had to prepare himself for the inevitable.

          As irritating as it was, Kylo found himself channeling his father as his fingers moved across the ship’s buttons and levers. He hated the thought, but Han Solo was someone who could fix anything. So what would he do in this situation?

          _Abandon ship like he abandoned his son_ , Kylo thought bitterly. No, he could do this himself. He didn’t need his father’s help to solve this.

          Then there was a loud explosion and the ship lurched so hard that he almost banged his head against the control panel before him. Kylo cursed. That was the fuel pump. There was no fixing it now, the ship was definitely going down. All he could do next was just brace for impact.

*   *   *   *

          Rey was exhausted. She had been picking the remains of a ship all day for parts to bring back to Unkar Plutt. And after nearly ten hours of scavenging, all her hard work had only added up to a measly quarter portion. As she dismounted from her speeder, she thought about tomorrow’s work. The ship she’d been working on all week was nearly picked clean. Soon she would run out of parts and have to find a new ship to scavenge. Maybe if she went further south, a new one might turn up. Either way, she had to find something. If she didn’t, she would starve.

          As if on cue her stomach growled. The quarter portion wasn’t much but at least it was food. And at the moment, it would satisfy her enough for the evening. Rey decided to worry about everything later. It was easier to think on a satiated stomach anyway.

          She was just about to go inside her home in the broken down AT-AT when she heard the rumbling. Rey froze, now on high alert. She would recognize that sound anywhere: The sound of a ship about to crash. Sure enough, when she looked up she saw the sleek black vessel barreling downwards. It was close, but luckily not headed for her. She watched as it sailed over the AT-AT and then vanished from sight on the other side of a sand dune.

          Rey’s exhaustion was gone in an instant. Grabbing her staff from the speeder, she took off towards the crash site. She had two reasons for running to investigate. One, to check on the pilot and see if there was anything she could do to help them. And two, if the pilot didn’t make it then their ship was free game to be scavenged from. Either way, she had to get to it first before someone with less empathy for the survivors did.

          As she reached the top of the dune, she could see the smoke rising from the wreckage not too far away. When she got closer, the sight of the red emblem on the ship’s side brought her to a halt. That was the First Order’s symbol. Rey had heard stories of what sort of people were part of the Order. She was told they were ruthless and would kill anyone who opposed them without as much as a second thought. That alone was enough to make her want to turn around and go back.

          _But I’m here to help,_ Rey thought. _Surely they won’t kill someone trying to help them_. Her grip on her staff tightened and she pressed forward anyway, although at a more cautious pace this time.

          She hadn’t moved more than five steps before the door to the cockpit was thrown open. Rey stopped once more and watched as a dark figure emerged, cursing and heading immediately around the ship to assess the damage. From what she could tell he was tall, wearing black clothes, and had some sort of mask on. Curious, she watched as he circled the ship, clearly frustrated with the outcome.

          Rey wondered if she should go back since he seemed to be alright. He looked like someone she would do well to avoid getting involved with. Still, he was stranded in the middle of the desert and it was going to get dark and cold soon. In spite of how much he intimidated her, she decided to try and offer help anyway. Taking a deep breath, she continued to move towards him.

          When she was just a few feet away, the stranger suddenly looked towards her as if he had heard her approach. He held out his hand in her direction and Rey had no time to wonder what he was doing before she felt her entire body freeze up. She tried to move, but found she could no longer do that. It was as if an invisible rope had been wound tightly around her body from head to toe and held her where she was. Now she was more than intimidated: She was afraid.

          “Who are you?” the stranger demanded right away. His voice was deep, almost mechanical beneath the mask. There must have been something in the helmet that changed his voice and to make it more frightening to his enemies.

          It had worked on Rey. She felt extremely unsettled when he spoke. But at the moment, she was more concerned with why she couldn’t move. “What did you do to me?” she demanded, defiant in spite of her fear.

          “Stopped you from getting any closer than I am comfortable with,” he returned sharply. “Now answer the question or I’ll send you back to wherever it is that you came from.”

          On one hand, she could continue to defy him and see how far it got her. Probably back in the direction of her home, and probably not gently. From what she gathered he seemed to have some sort of power to control objects. If he could stop her from moving, maybe he could lift her up and toss her as well. She was tough, but she didn’t think her body would survive being thrown so far. So Rey decided to just be open and honest with him.

          “My name is Rey,” she began. “I’m a scavenger here on Jakku. I saw your ship go down and thought I could be of some help.”

          The stranger was quiet while he processed this new information. “A scavenger?” he repeated, and for some reason the way he said it made Rey feel somewhat ashamed of what she was.

          “Yes,” Rey confirmed, doing her best to look indignant even when she couldn’t move the rest of her body. “I find usable parts in ships and turn them in.”

          “A noble profession,” said the stranger and she could hear the sarcasm in his tone.

          Rey glared at him. “I do what I have to do in order to survive. Those ship parts are the only thing keeping me fed each day.” She felt herself becoming no longer frightened but angry at the man in the mask. He had no right to talk down to her in such a way.

          Apparently he sensed her anger, because when he spoke again it was in gentler tones. “And how would a scavenger help me, a member of the First Order, exactly?”

          “I’m good at fixing ships,” Rey explained, bitterness still clinging to every syllable. “I thought maybe I could help fix the ship so you can be on your way and go insult someone else in the galaxy.”

          Rey thought at first he might throw her for that quip. To her surprise, she felt the hold on her body vanish. She lifted her right arm and stretched out her fingers, testing to make sure everything still worked.

          “I don’t need your help, scavenger,” he muttered, waving her off. “I can fix ships too. I’ll have this back in the air in no time.”

          “Your fuel pump gave out, didn’t it?” asked Rey. She stuck her staff upright into the sand and approached the ship. “I saw it smoking on your way down. Do you have an extra one on board?”

          He stared at her from behind the mask for a moment, perhaps taken by surprise at her boldness in approaching him. Then he turned away to head towards the back of the ship. “These models are supposed to have extras in their cargo hold in case they give out. If they run for too long, they can overheat. But I don’t think it was the fuel pump originally that was giving me trouble.”

          “Was it sputtering and making screeching sounds when you pressed down on the joystick?” Rey inquired. She was at the cargo hold now, trying to pry it open. After a few moments of struggling, she heard the stranger sigh and hold up his hand again. When he did, the door to the hold immediately popped open.

          “Yes, so I think it had something to do with the secondary alternator.” He looked inside the hold then cursed. “It doesn’t have its extra. Someone must have already had to replace it.”

          Rey winced. “No fuel pump and your secondary alternator has given out. You sure it’s going to be back in the air in no time?”

          He rounded on her, and she was sure that underneath the mask he was probably fuming. “Look, girl, I could kill you in an instant. Doesn’t that frighten you?”

          “It did at first, yeah,” Rey replied. She folded her arms across her chest and stood up as tall as she could before him. He may have over a foot on her in height, but she was not going to let him scare her anymore. “I live on Jakku. I see things scarier than you every day. You may have magical powers, but I’m only trying to help. Would you really kill someone who wants to help you get off this planet?”

          The stranger considered her. Apparently this was not the answer he’d been expecting. “You’d help me…even though I’m with the First Order?”

          Rey clenched her jaw. She could just walk away right now and let the man sit until his friends in the Order found him. She was a compassionate person by nature though. Even if he was with them, she couldn’t just abandon someone in need.

          “I may not agree with what you stand for,” she said quietly “but you’re still a person who needs help. And I can’t just ignore that.”

          “Compassion will make you weak,” he warned. “You’d be better off just looking out for yourself.”

          She shut the cargo hold door. “If you want a new fuel pump, Niima Outpost is your best bet,” she explained, ignoring his advice. “Unkar Plutt has several, but don’t go to him. He will cheat you and his stock isn’t always up to par. I would recommend Shumar Khan on the outskirts. His stock is limited, but he’s fair and you can haggle with him. As for the secondary alternator, that should be something you can fix on your own.” Rey turned away from him and walked back over to wrench her stick out of the sand.

          The stranger watched her silently. He seemed to be thinking. “You need a Favarian wrench to fix alternators. I don’t have one on board.”

          Rey ran her fingers over her staff while she thought about this. “Do you have a Krybite?”

          “There might be one in there.”

          “You will have to mess with the attachments a little bit, but it should do the trick.”

          There was silence as the two stood there, both unsure of what to say next. Rey didn’t know whether to tell the stranger good-bye, good luck, or see if there was anything else she could do to help. He seemed to know what he was doing, and Niima Outpost wasn’t too far away. He should be fine.

          She looked at his ship. It was small, and the cock pit didn’t seem to have much space in it at all. No room for him to lay down to sleep anyway. There was nowhere else in the ship for him to go either. And he couldn’t stay outside, because the temperatures on Jakku got very low during the night.

          Rey groaned. She kind of hated herself for what she was about to say to him. “Do you need a place to stay?”

          “No,” he replied. “I’ll just sleep on the sand. I don’t mind it.”

          “You’ll freeze, even wearing those robes,” she said. “My home isn’t far from here if you want—if you need somewhere to sleep for the night.”

          He looked at her and she could almost sense the confusion emanating from him. “Weren’t you angry with me a moment ago? Why are you opening your home to me now?”

          “Look, if you want to freeze out here I’m not going to mourn your loss,” she grumbled, turning away and heading back in the direction of the AT-AT. “I’m one of the few people on this planet with a conscience though. I wouldn’t sleep well tonight if I didn’t at least try to save you from a terrible fate.”

          He didn’t reply, and Rey continued to head home. If he followed her, fine. If not, well good riddance then. Either way, she had done her part and offered help. Whether he took it or not was on him.

          She didn’t look back the entire way back. When she returned, she began to unload her speeder. Her supplies, she stored in a small cargo space around the back of the AT-AT. She stuck her staff into the ground beside the door to her home and the speeder she parked around to the back of the AT-AT by the cargo hold.

          As she was about to go inside and prepare the portions for dinner, a movement at the crest of the dune caught her attention. She got an odd feeling when she saw that it was the stranger coming towards her. Relief? Hope? Disappointment? She wasn’t sure what it was. Either way, it looked as though she was going to now have some company at her home.

          “I accept your offer of hospitality,” the stranger said when he was within earshot of Rey. “And I thank you for it.”

          She was surprised by his sudden politeness, but shrugged it off. Maybe he was polite once he got his way. “I don’t know your name,” she informed him.

          “I go by Kylo Ren,” he replied as she stood aside and let him enter her home.

          “Very well, Kylo Ren. You can stay here for tonight, but in the morning you go.”


	2. Chapter Two

                Kylo Ren had successfully hidden the wreckage of his ship underneath the sand. The scavenger girl had recommended he do so otherwise the vessel would be picked clean by morning. And that was the last thing he needed if he was to ever get off this awful planet.

          He hated having to accept the girl’s offer but he didn’t have much of a choice at the moment. If the desert temperatures really got as low as she said at night then it was not going to end well for him. So, reluctantly he entered her home.

          It wasn’t much of a home but she had clearly made the most of it. A small table, some chairs, what looked like it could be a bed. There were some dried up flowers on the table and a handmade pilot doll sitting near the bed. Kylo cracked a small smile beneath the mask. The little touches were sad but oddly charming, even to someone like himself.

          He was looking at the rows of white lines etched on the wall when the girl returned from outside.

          “There were a few scavengers poking around out there, but most of them have given up,” she informed him, leaning her staff up against the wall by the front door. “Obviously your crash landing didn’t go unnoticed. But they’re not smart enough to find it underneath the sand.”

          Kylo said nothing in reply, so she left him standing there and went about preparing her supper. He considered not having any dialogue with her the rest of his time there. Talking led to secrets being revealed, and he had too many of those to take that risk.

          Still, he was curious about the wall of lines. “What are these markings for?” he asked, despite his aversion to wanting to talk to her more.

          She assessed him for a moment before replying with “My kills.”

          Kylo was almost impressed before he realized she was being sarcastic. He could be annoyed with her for not answering his question honestly but he let it go. After all, it was in her abode that he was staying. His views and morals might be controversial to some but he was going to remain respectful to someone giving him shelter for the night.

          “I see,” he murmured. “Perhaps you’re the true reason why this planet is largely uninhabited.”

          The girl was staring at him. Then she suddenly broke into a smile. “You made a joke.”

          “And?”

          “There is a person under there after all,” she concluded.

          He felt irritated. “What did you think I was? A droid?”

          She shrugged. “It’s just nice to know that, whatever you are, there’s some humanity to you.”

          While she finished preparing her meal, Kylo Ren mulled over her words. He never really gave much thought to what others might think of him. The only thing he really cared about was making sure they were intimidated enough to treat him with respect. He had never considered they might see him as something nonhuman.

          “I am a human,” he informed her in a flat voice.

          She raised her eyebrows at him. “You sure? Because with that helmet and voice, you don’t seem like it.”

          “If you’re trying to get me to take it off—”

          “I’m not trying anything,” she interrupted “but if you have it on, how are you going to eat?”

          Kylo saw that she was gesturing to the portions she had just made. She was offering them to him. An odd feeling came over him when he realized what her intentions were. Not trusting that sort of feeling, he quickly pushed it away.

          “I’m not eating that.”

          The girl rolled her eyes. She seemed annoyed. “Look, it’s all I have so you’re not in any position to turn your nose up at it.”

          He shook his head. “No, I mean that’s your food. You worked for it today, didn’t you?”

          “Well yeah,” she replied “but you’re my guest. What kind of person would I be if I ate while you went hungry?”

          Kylo retrieved the bag that he had brought back with him from the wreckage and tossed it next to the table. “I brought my own food. Our ships have about three years’ worth of provisions in their cargo holds for situations like this.”

          Her mouth fell open in an almost comical manner. “Three years’ worth of food?” she exclaimed. “And it just sits in there?”

          “Yes, for emergencies,” he clarified. Seeing the shock on her face, he suddenly found himself feeling guilty. Here was a girl who worked every day just to eat while the Order had food that wasn’t even being eaten. From her appearance, she looked like she worked very hard and got very little in return.

Again though, he brushed off the guilt. He didn’t like the new feelings she kept awakening in him. The sooner he got away from her, the better.

          The girl sat down to eat her portions, still looking pretty wonderstruck by the revelation. “Perhaps I should have joined the First Order,” she mused. “At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about my next meal all the time.”

          “Don’t say things like that,” Kylo Ren snapped at her. When she looked up at him in surprise, he continued. “The First Order does not treat their members well. It is not a group you would want to be associated with.”

          “You’re part of the First Order,” she pointed out. “Shouldn’t you be looking to recruit new members, not drive people away?”

          He shook his head. “I am a master of the Knights of Ren,” he corrected. “Recruiting for the Order is not my job nor my concern. I work alongside them only because our interests align.”

          “What interests are those?”

          Kylo turned away from her. He reached into the bag and took out a loaf of bread that was preserved in a container to keep it from going stale. He was done with this conversation, as it was starting to tread into dangerous territory for the both of them. The girl didn’t need to know his agenda. The only thing she needed to know was that he needed to get his ship repaired as soon as possible.

          “Here,” he grunted, tearing off a piece of the bread and tossing it to her. “Since you’re allowing me to stay, you can have some of my rations.”

          She caught it in both hands and looked curiously at the gift. “What is it?”

          He almost scoffed at the question. “Haven’t you ever seen bread before?”

          “I live in the middle of a desert,” she reminded him. “We don’t have anything like this around here.”

          “It’s called bread,” he told her, feeling slightly guilty again that she had no exposure to something so basic. When she continued to stare at it, he sighed. “Don’t worry, I didn’t poison it.”

          Rey shook her head slowly. “It’s not that. I just—no one’s ever given me food like this before. I’ve always had to work for my meals.”

          “Well if you want to work for it, you can help me repair my ship tomorrow,” said Kylo. “I’ll give you the rest of the food rations in my ship if you do.”

          The girl nearly fell off her chair when he said this. “Three years’ worth of food for fixing a ship?” she exclaimed. Kylo was worried she might burst into tears at the offer.

          He shrugged a shoulder. “It can be replaced easily in the First Order,” was his only response to her outburst. What he refrained from saying though was that she was the one who needed it more.

          “I’m good at fixing things,” she told him eagerly. “I should be able to help you get it back in the air in no time.”

          “Good,” he replied. Taking what he wanted of the bread, he turned away from her. “I’m going to eat this over here.”

          “Why?”

          There was a brief pause before he replied, somewhat awkwardly “I don’t want you to see my face.”

          “Why’s that?”

          He groaned. She was too curious for her own good. “I don’t trust you completely yet. I’m not revealing my face to you.”

          She nearly threw her hands up in frustration. “I live on Jakku! Who am I going to share your identity with? The sand?”

          “I have a right to conceal my identity, so respect my privacy, scavenger.” With that, he left her there at the table and stalked off to the corner to eat his dinner in peace.

 

         

*   *   *   *

Rey didn’t know what to make of the stranger. One minute he was civil, the next he was pulling back from her like she was a poisonous creature he’d encountered in the desert. There was humanity to him, but also a darkness that made her wary yet still curious. He was—well—strange. That was the best word she could use to describe him.

          After he left her, Rey put the bread stuff to her lips and took a small bite. The small bite was quickly followed by bigger bites when she realized how tasty it was. It was chewy and somewhat dry, but had a nice hearty flavor and gave her a satisfying feeling while she ate it. Soon the piece he had given her was completely gone. Rey wanted more of it, but she returned to her rations instead. Instinct told her that she should not consume too much of this new food. It could upset her stomach, and that was the last problem she wanted to add to her current list of them.

          Though she was itching to see what Kylo Ren looked like under the helmet, she did as he asked and respected his privacy. Maybe when he was ready he would show her but for now she couldn’t go against his wishes. Not when he promised her three years of food for the simple task of helping him fix his ship. For that incentive, she could easily contain her curiosity.

          Still, another side of Rey, the one that had kept her alive on Jakku, wondered if he could follow through with his promise. Stories about the First Order had made her think that perhaps they weren’t too honest. However, those stories had also said that they would kill their enemies on sight. Kylo Ren had given her a chance to explain herself, so perhaps he was not like them after all. He had said that he was only working with them because their interests aligned. Rey wondered what his interests were and why he wouldn’t disclose them. But again, if he wanted to keep them private then she would respect that.

          Her heart lightened by the thought of not having to scavenge the next day, Rey went outside to sit atop the AT-AT and watch the sun set. She liked this time of day best on Jakku, when the air was transitioning from hot to cold. It was the same in the dawn hours when the sun was just beginning to rise. The air was cool, comfortable to sit outside in. It was very refreshing. Sometimes Rey would even stick her bare feet into the sand, just to see what it felt like when it wasn’t burning hot. The soft grains would slip between her toes and bring a smile to her face. Jakku wasn’t so bad…sometimes.

          While she looked up at the approaching night sky, Rey began to think of how she could make the rations last longer than a year. If she ate just enough to satisfy each day, they could probably last her up to five or six years depending on how much the First Order considered a days’ worth of food. She would still have to scavenge just to avoid Unkar Plutt getting suspicious. Tomorrow she was going to have to make some excuse for not bringing anything in. But as long as she worked around it, she could definitely survive for a long time on what Kylo Ren was giving her. At least, until her family came back for her. Some day…

          The door of the AT-AT opened and Kylo Ren came out. She watched him look around for a moment before turning around and looking up at her from the ground.

          “The communicator in there,” he said to her “does it still work?”

          Rey shrugged. “It might. This thing has been down for years so I wouldn’t count on it.”

          He was silent, and Rey wondered what he might be thinking in response to her question. She climbed to her feet and hopped down, making him start a little when she landed so close to him.

          “Did you want to try contacting the First Order?” she inquired.

          Kylo Ren nodded. “I thought it might be worth a try. If we can’t get the ship fixed, it would be good to have a back up plan.” When he noticed her suspicious look, he added “If you help me contact base, I will still hold up my end of our agreement. I want off this planet more than you know.”

          “You’d be surprised,” said Rey, relief filling her when she heard her intended to keep his word. “Alright, let’s go have a look.”

          The communicator was in with the old control panel of the AT-AT that Rey had left mostly untouched. When she was small, she would play with the controls. She’d pretend to be flying her own ship, having adventures in space and on other planets. When she landed on other planets during her play, she would venture outside and pretend to fight imaginary creatures and discover new worlds. It was a happier, more hopeful time. Rey missed those days dearly.

          When she popped open the panel under the communicator, her heart sank to see how much of a mess it was. Everything was burned up, as if it had caught fire when the AT-AT fell. Any hope of fixing it had been severely minimized.

          “Damn,” muttered Kylo. “Whatever happened to this thing, it seems like it was quite devastating.”

          Rey closed the panel. “Well, it was worth a try. If you want, someone at Niima Outpost may have a communicator you could use.”

          He scoffed at the idea. “No one is going to help a member of the First Order. I’m surprised I even got help from you.”

          “But you can make them do it, can’t you?” she asked, turning to face him. “When we first met, you used a power on me to stop me from moving. I’ve heard stories about people who had a power that could control things, control people. They were called the Je—”

          Kylo Ren put a gloved hand over her mouth to cut her off. Her eyes widened in surprise at his sudden movement, and even when he lowered his hand she continued to look at him, look at his emotionless mask in shock.

          “You stick to what you know, girl,” he murmured, walking away from her and the control panel. “There’s things in this galaxy you don’t want to get mixed up in. Stick to what you know—scavenging.”

          Rey watched as he grabbed some extra cloth she had lying around and went about making a bed for himself on the floor. Kylo Ren—member of the First Order, master of the Knights of Ren, and possible Jedi. She wondered if she would ever come to understand him. Or if she would even have time to understand him. Or better yet—if he would even _let_ her understand him.

         


	3. Chapter Three

                The night air outside the AT-AT was frigid and still. Inside it was a little warmer, but not much. Things had gone cold between Rey and Kylo Ren. He had not spoken a word to her since she brought up the Jedi, and she had not tried to initiate any more conversation with him. What was the point if it was just going to end like this? Even though her question had seemed so innocent, Rey couldn’t help but feel that she’d crossed a line.

          As she lay there on her bed, staring at the broad back of Kylo Ren on the floor nearby, she tried to wrap her head around it. Why was he upset? If he didn’t want her to know about his powers then he shouldn’t have used them on her. She wondered what had happened between him and the Jedi in the past that made him shut down at the mere mention of them.

 If the Jedi were real, that is. For all Rey knew, they were just made up stories told by passing merchants to draw in crowds and sell goods. But Kylo Ren’s power was definitely real, and if it was the same power as a Jedi…

          _Stick to what you know—scavenging_. His words still rang in her head and made her stomach ache. She rolled over to face the wall instead so she wouldn’t have to keep looking at him. It hurt when he said that word with such disdain. As though she was worth nothing because of what she was.

And maybe she was worth nothing—after all, her own family had left her there to fend for herself. In the entire galaxy, she was still just a sad, lonely little girl. She didn’t really matter to anyone or anything.

          Suppressing a sigh so that Kylo wouldn’t hear the expression of her sadness, Rey closed her eyes. She continued to hurt throughout the night, even when she slept. The hurt crept into her dreams and soured them so that every so often she would have to force herself to wake up, just to get away from the bad. But deep down, she knew the truth: There was no escaping the bad.

*   *   *   *

          Kylo Ren woke somewhere in the early hours of the morning. He had gone to sleep early to avoid any more of the girl’s personal questions. She had hit too close to home when she mentioned the Jedi. He had a rocky past with them, a past that he preferred not to dwell on. Dwelling on it made him weak, and weakness would be his downfall.

          When he woke, he sat up and looked around carefully. The blue light of dawn was peeking through the window of the AT-AT onto the floor near him. He turned to look at the girl and saw she was still curled up on her own bed, sound asleep.

          _Good,_ he thought. _I need some air._ Kylo reached up and pressed the button on the side of his helmet to lift up the front of the mask. He then pulled it off his head and felt the sweet relief of having the cool air on his face. With his right hand he dragged his fingers through his hair, shaking it out a bit. His left hand took the helmet and set it down gently beside him.

          The girl made a noise and he nearly leapt to his feet to hide his face again. But when he looked carefully around at her again, he was relieved to see that she was still sleeping. She looked different now though. Her brow was furrowed and he could see a sheen of sweat clinging to her forehead and shoulders. She made a noise again, and this time he realized what it was.

          “No,” Rey moaned. “Please—no.”

          Kylo found himself watching her, curious as to what it was she was dreaming about. Whatever it was, it didn’t look good. He was tempted to wake her up, and his hand was actually reaching out for her before he realized what he was doing. His fingers pulled back and he let his hand fall to his side. No, he couldn’t wake her up and have her see him like this.

          “But I can make things a little easier for you,” he murmured thoughtfully. He knew he was showing compassion and it was going against everything he had been taught by the Supreme Leader. But in this moment, he would forsake his training for her. For the girl who made him want to pull away, but at the same time drew him in. Quietly, he made his way over and knelt beside her bed. With as much gentleness as he could manage, he laid a hand on her head and closed his eyes.

He saw what she was dreaming about when he went into her mind. She was a child, sitting alone in the sand on Jakku. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed into her knees.

          “Come back,” she cried softly. “Please don’t leave me behind.”

          In spite of himself, Kylo felt his heart going out to her. He understood that feeling of abandonment, of helplessness. He saw himself in her small, crying form. A child forced to deal with hardships that no child should ever have to endure. It wasn’t fair—for either of them.

          “They’re coming back for you,” he told her. “It’s not too late for you.”

          The girl looked up. She didn’t see him, but she looked past him at two figures in the distance. Two figures that Kylo Ren had conjured for her to make the bad dream go away. Two figures she had been waiting years to see again.

          Rey scrambled to her feet, tears still in her eyes but no longer streaming down her cheeks. The figures in the distance were blurry, but she knew exactly who they were.

          “Mommy…daddy,” she choked out. She couldn’t believe it. They—they’d come back for her! Not wasting time, she took off in a run towards them.

          Kylo Ren smiled as he watched her go. His work here was done. He pulled himself out of her mind and stood. Looking down at her, he was pleased to see that she looked peaceful and serene in her sleep. Then he turned and went back to retrieve his helmet. A small bit of compassion wasn’t going to change anything in him. His plans were not going to change because of this scavenger girl. But for a little while longer before she woke up, he still smiled a bit whenever he looked back over at her.

*   *   *   *

          Rey opened her eyes to the golden light of the morning. She was surprised to feel well rested despite the amount of times she woke up. Then she remembered—she’d had a good dream. A dream in which her parents had come back for her. Rey smiled into her cloth pillow. That was a thought that made her feel warm inside.

          “Are you ready to work?” a voice asked suddenly, making her jolt. Rey rolled over and saw Kylo Ren, sitting there on the floor looking at her. He still wore his helmet, which irked her quite a bit. Was he ever going to take that thing off?

          She sat up in bed and yawned. “Give me a moment to wake up first,” she grumbled to him.

          He stood and made his way over to the door. “Do what you need to, girl. Eat something and meet me at the ship when you’re finished.” With that, he opened the front door and was gone.

          Rey slid off the bed and made her way over to the bag of food next to the table. She tore off some of the bread and selected some fruit that looked like it would be pretty good to eat. The bread didn’t disappoint, and the fruit was an amazing burst of juice, sweetness, and flavor that she couldn’t get enough of. She only ate a little of each though. Again, she did not want to hurt her stomach.

          After washing up a bit with some water she had in the AT-AT, Rey put on some new cloths, grabbed her staff and some tools she had laying around and headed for the crash site. The morning air was still cool and the sun wasn’t all the way up yet. They still had some time before things got hot.

Rey wondered if Kylo Ren would be alright inside his helmet and with all his dark clothing on. Perhaps he would cook like the slabs of meat they sold at Niima Outpost. She smirked at the thought. It would serve him right for refusing to take the stupid helmet off.

          When she arrived at the site, Kylo had cleared the sand from the wreckage and was already taking things apart with his Krybite tool. There was an open bag of tools near the cargo hold, and Rey crouched down to dig through it.

          “Your First Order has some pretty good tech,” she noted as she pulled out various tools to examine them closer. “We should be able to get things done easily with these.”

          “Easily is not the word I would use,” he shot back at her. “A lot of these parts are in bad shape. It may be more than just the alternator and fuel pump that need replaced.”

          Rey stood and headed over to examine the mechanisms he was referring to. She winced when she saw how they looked. He was right…this wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought.

          “Well, good thing we’re both good mechanics, right?” she offered with a forced smile.

          Kylo Ren looked at her for a moment, then returned to working on taking out the busted fuel pump. Even though he was wearing a mask, Rey couldn’t help but feel like he had smiled at her statement. At least, she liked to think that he had. As closed off as he was, maybe he did have a heart. He was human, after all. Maybe if she tried harder, she could draw that side out more often.

*   *   *   *

          The day grew hotter as the morning rolled into the afternoon. Rey had set about working on the secondary alternator while Kylo focused on getting the fried fuel pump out and repairing the other damaged parts. It was hard work, but they were making progress.

          Rey felt the sweat running down her back. She couldn’t help but keep sneaking glances over at her companion. She marveled at how he could work in this heat in such coverings. At any moment, there was a high probability that he would collapse from heat stroke.

          When the sun reached its highest and the day was at its hottest, Rey couldn’t stand it anymore. Setting her tools down, she bravely approached Kylo Ren.

          “You’ve got to take off your helmet,” she said firmly.

          He ignored her and continued with his work. Frustrated and not thinking straight from the intense heat, Rey actually put a hand on his arm.

          “Hey! Are you listening to me?” she nearly shouted at him. “If you don’t take off that helmet and those clothes, you’ll die!”

          He stopped working and turned to look at her. Realizing she was still touching him, Rey immediately retracted her hand to her side. But she clenched her fists and stood her ground before him. She wanted him to realize the seriousness of the matter instead of brushing her off.

          “You want me to take off my clothes, scavenger?” he said slowly through the mask.

          Impressively, Rey felt her face get even hotter when he said this. “Not like that,” she growled impatiently. “Dark clothing and the sun do not mix out here. You’ve got to wear something else or you’re going to get heat stroke.”

          He brushed her off. “I will be fine.”

          “No you won’t,” she argued. “You’re going to bake like a bantha loin in that bucket if you don’t take it off.”

          Kylo Ren made a sound that Rey thought might have been laughter. “I didn’t know you worried about my well-being, scavenger.”

          She opened her mouth to make a counter statement but the words never came out. Rey’s eyes locked onto something in the distance behind him. Something that made her heart drop into her stomach.  

          “Scavengers,” she breathed.

          Kylo Ren stood there in confusion for a moment before turning around to see what she was looking at. The two of them watched as a band of about a dozen Jakku scavengers made their way towards the ship. Rey started to run for her staff but Kylo stuck his arm out and pulled her back.

          “Wait,” he said in a low voice.

          “They’re going to tear us to pieces over this ship,” she hissed back at him. “I need to fight them off.”

          Pulling herself away from him, she ran to her staff, snatched it out of the sand and stormed over to face the approaching band.

          “Back off!” she bellowed to them. “There’s nothing for you here.”

          The leader of the band, a lumpy green alien with few teeth and goggles on his face laughed at her. “Well if it isn’t the orphan girl. Unkar Plutt told us to come look for you on our way over. He’s been wonderin’ why you didn’t show up today.”

          “This is a First Order vessel,” Rey warned. “I’m helping one of their members do repairs on it.”

          The band shifted uncomfortably at the mention of the Order, but the leader remained undeterred. “So what? You know the rules around here, girl. Everything is fair game, whether the owner is alive or dead.”

          She brandished her staff defensively. “If you want this ship, you’ll have to fight me for it.”

          “Gladly,” he replied, taking out a rather nasty looking club. While the rest of the band sat to watch the outcome, he charged at Rey. His club raised up to strike her, but it was met by her staff. She pushed him back and made him stumble, but he came back at her with another blow. Rey tried to get a few hits in, but this alien was quicker than he looked. Her blows kept getting blocked whereas his blows she was just barely dodging.

          It wasn’t long before she stumbled and the club got her in the ribs. Rey cried out in pain as the barbs sticking out of the weapon tore her flesh open and the force of the hit nearly fractured her ribs. She fell onto the burning hot sand, but climbed back to her knees to get up once more. She saw the club rise again and managed to roll and dodge it, but not before it clipped her arm. Another wave of agony shot through her body. She grabbed her staff and raised it up. Rey might be hurt, but she grew up in this environment. She was going to keep fighting until she no longer could. Giving up was not an option.

          “What a worthless piece of garbage,” the leader remarked as he approached the injured girl. “I’m sure Unkar Plutt will be glad to be rid of you. You’re a waste of his time.”

          “Eat shit,” she snarled back. Her eyes watched as his club raised above her once more, and she braced herself for the impact. But it never came. The club stayed in the air, frozen along with the leader’s arm and the rest of his body. Rey was confused for a moment, but then she realized what had happened.

          “Enough,” came the voice of Kylo Ren from behind her. He was approaching her and the leader, walking calmly as if he had all the time in the world. His head turned towards Rey and he asked “Are you alright?”

          She was quiet for a moment, stunned by such a gentle question from such a harsh person. It was a question _no one_ had ever asked her before. She shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

          Kylo Ren nodded. Then he turned back to the leader. “You just injured someone under the employ of the First Order. This girl was helping me fix my ship and you hurt her.”

          The green alien paled at his words. “Wh-what are you?” he croaked in frightened tones.

          His question went unanswered. “Do you know what the penalty is for going against the First Order?” Kylo questioned darkly.

          “N-n-no I d-don’t,” the leader replied.

          “Well, you’re about to find out.” Rey watched as the green alien was lifted into the air and suddenly launched like a stone into the distance. He sailed over the sand dunes and was gone from sight.

          “Now then,” Kylo continued, turning to face the rest of the frightened band. They had been watching the events unfold in stunned silence and were now slowly backing away from the masked figure before them. “I need a volunteer to get me some things from Niima Outpost. Any takers?”

          When there were no replies, Kylo Ren selected a thin human man and pulled him over with his power to where he was standing. “You’ll do. I am going to give you a list of parts that we need. You’re going to get those parts, no matter what it takes, and you’re going to bring them back here. Then you’re going to forget any of this ever happened, understood?”

          The thin scavenger nodded rapidly. “Understood,” he repeated in a small voice.

          “The rest of you, I suggest you do the same,” Kylo Ren called to the band. “Or else…well, you’ve seen what happens when you go against the First Order.”

          The scavengers turned and high-tailed it back the way they came. After they were gone, Kylo Ren went about dictating the list to the remaining scavenger while Rey checked out her injuries. There were some gruesome-looking gashes on her side and some deep scratches on her arm. She felt queasy looking at them. They also worried her greatly. After all, she didn’t have much for treating injuries back home.

          When the last scavenger scampered off to do as he was told, Kylo Ren walked over and knelt down beside Rey. “You shouldn’t have done that, girl,” he chastised.

          “It’s how we do things out here,” she replied passively.

          “You should have just let me handle it,” said Kylo Ren.

          Rey turned away. She was in too much pain to argue the subject any further. Besides, her bigger worry was how she was going to treat her injuries now. It had to be soon, otherwise they would get infected and she could very well die. And she couldn’t die now—not yet, not until her family came back for her.

          She heard her companion sigh. “You’re a lot of trouble, girl. Lucky for you, these ships carry very good medical kits.” He stood and made his way over to the cargo area. Opening it, he reached inside and pulled out a large blue case.

          Rey felt hopeful at the sight. This meant that she stood a chance at getting better now. She gave him a grateful smile. “Thank you,” she said sincerely.

          He turned away from her. “I think we’ve done enough for today. Here, take the kit and go home. I’ll clean up here and be back soon.”

          She stood, but didn’t move. “But…the ship…you’re supposed to go back home today.”

          He looked down at the ground. “You’re in no shape to help me out, and I can’t fix it as quick by myself. I suppose…one more night won’t hurt.”

          Rey went to pick up the kit, but winced when her arm stretched out towards it. Still, she was not going to let him see her weakness and try to help her any more than he already had. She could at least do this part herself.

          She was no more than a few steps away when Kylo Ren called to her.

          “Scavenger,” he said.

          She scowled at the ground. She’d been through enough hurt that day, and she was done just taking it. Looking over her shoulder, she called back to him “Stop calling me that. I have a name, and that name is Rey. Use it.”

          “Fine then… _Rey_. I just wanted to say that you fought well earlier.”

          His compliment was nice, but her side and shoulder were stinging to no end. “Thank you... _Kylo_ ,” she replied. She then turned and continued to make her way back home.

*   *   *   *

          Underneath the mask, Kylo wore a small smile as he watched her go. It seemed like no matter what he did to push her out of his mind, she was always making her way back in. She had entwined herself into his emotions, making him do and say things that were completely out of character for him. There was a charm to her, a likeableness that he couldn’t shake. He wasn’t sure what he wanted of her at that point in time, only that he was impressed by her forthright attitude, her fighting skills, and her courage. Perhaps one more night with her wouldn’t be so bad after all…


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was already beginning to set by the time Kylo Ren finished packing up the tools and hiding the ship beneath the sand once more. He was less worried about scavengers getting it now, especially after the demonstration he had given them earlier. Although it was their fault for not minding their own business.

          He thought about the girl—Rey—how she had been so willing to fight them off. Even at the cost of injuring herself. It was a noble gesture, though a foolish one. As she had said though, that was how they did things on Jakku. If you had to fight to protect something then you did without a second thought.

          _She still should have let me handle them_ he thought as he trudged back over the dunes to the AT-AT. _I would have been able to dispose of all of them without injuring myself._

That wasn’t exactly a fair thought though. Looking back on it, he remembered that she could not use the Force like he could. If she was able to, the fight would have ended much differently. If the girl could use the Force, Kylo Ren could only imagine how powerful she would be. A companion on the Dark Side who would be truly worth his time.

 _If only_ , he thought wistfully as the AT-AT came into view. _If only…_

When he entered the girl’s home, he was surprised to see her sitting there on the bed with the medical kit open before her. She had a bottle in her hand and was looking it over, frowning as if she couldn’t understand what she was looking at.

“Did you treat your injuries yet?” he asked as he set the tools down near the door.

The girl was unusually silent. He should have heard some form of answer by now, since she seemed to be so fond of talking. Kylo Ren made his way back over and looked down at her on the bed expectantly.

“Well?”

The girl shook her head. “I don’t—I’m not sure what all these medicines are.”

“What are you talking about? Just read the labels on them.”

“I am,” she replied impatiently. “All they have are titles. There’s no indication of what any of them do.”

Grabbing the bottle from her, he realized that she was right. Everyone in the First Order was given some form of medical training. They would know by heart what all the medicines in their kits were. There was no point in putting anything else on the label because of that.

Kylo Ren knew what they all were too. He almost groaned when he realized that he was probably going to be the one treating her injuries. It had been a long day—this was not how he wanted to end it.

“Fine,” he caved. “Roll up your shirt and wait here a moment. I’m going to go wash my hands.”

Rey looked indignant at the suggestion. “I’d rather to it myself, thanks. Just tell me which one to use.”

“If you do it, you’re going to cause more harm to yourself,” he replied calmly. “Applying some of these medicines is dangerous, and if you’ve never used them before then you’re not going to know the exact amounts you need or the order they need to be applied in.”

“I could figure it out,” she said but her argument had weakened.

“You fought for me today. Let me help repair the damage from it.”

After washing his hands, he returned to find her still sitting on the bed, looking embarrassed.

“What now?” he inquired of her.

“I’ve never shown my body to anyone before,” she muttered to her knees, not looking up at him.

Under the mask, he rolled his eyes. “I’m not asking you to get naked like you asked me to earlier. Just pull up your shirt so I can get to your injuries.”

She looked up at him then, embarrassment turned instantly to annoyance. “I did _not_ ask you to get naked, okay? Excuse me for worrying about you dying from heat stroke.”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” he grumbled as he knelt before her and began to sift through the kit for the supplies he needed.

“Yeah? Well—you don’t have to worry about me either,” she shot back.

He sighed. “Look, the only reason I’m worrying about you now is because as much as I hate to say it, I need you. You’re the best chance I have of getting off this damned planet and back to where I belong. And if something happens to you then I have to do it alone. Which is much harder than I would like it to be. Got it?”

She seemed surprised by his sudden outburst of thoughts. Kylo Ren accepted her silence gratefully, as it allowed him to concentrate on treating her injuries. She remained quiet while he poured some strong-smelling red liquid onto a cloth to first apply to the gashes.

“This is going to hurt,” he warned. “All I ask is that you don’t scream. The noise will echo in my helmet and hurt my ears.”

“I won’t scream,” she promised quietly.

Kylo was glad he wore the helmet. He didn’t want her to see how often he looked at her. He didn’t want her getting the wrong idea. She intrigued him, and her facial expressions usually gave him an idea of what she was thinking. Now though, when she was looking back at him, he couldn’t decide what was going through her mind.

Rey winced when he applied the liquid, but did not make a sound. She was tough, he gave her that. Living on Jakku, he supposed she would have to be. He gently rubbed the cloth on her injuries, not applying too much pressure lest he hurt her even more. After the red liquid, he dipped his fingers into a jar of a blue gel that he applied directly into her wounds. She shivered when his fingertips brushed her skin but she still didn’t make any noise.

For some reason, treating her wounds was making him feel…odd. When his knuckles accidentally brushed against her skin, the part that wasn’t covered in gashes, it gave him the strangest sensation. Her skin was soft and warm against his own—something he had never felt before. While he worked, he let his eyes wander over the rest of her body. Her exposed abdomen, her legs, her chest, her neck. He wondered if every part of her was just as soft and warm…

 _No,_ a voice said firmly in his mind. _This is dangerous_.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

Kylo realized he was sitting there with his fingers still pressed into her side, not moving. Surprised by his own distraction, he withdrew his hand and went about wiping the gel from his fingers on a cloth from the kit.

“Just making sure the gel isn’t burning your skin,” he lied quickly yet calmly. “Too much of it can corrode the tissue if not controlled.”

“Wow, really?” she asked nervously.

He shook his head. “Don’t worry, the final coating I put on will ensure that it doesn’t harm you.” Still a bit shaken by the new feelings and his mixed emotions at them, he worked on opening the jar for the last medicine that needed to be applied before the bandages went on.

“This seems like a complicated process,” Rey commented as he began to apply a light blue lotion type substance to her wounds.

“It’s just different chemicals reacting with one another to speed up the healing process. The first one cleans, the second works on closing the wound and the third combines with the second to create new tissue.”

She stared at him blankly. “Like I said—complicated.”

Fighting yet another smile, he pulled the roll of bandages out of the kit and began to wrap them around her middle. It was a difficult process, as it required him to lean in a bit closer to her and there was no way to avoid brushing against her skin again with his fingers. Which yes, he found it was a pleasant sensation, but that pleasant sensation worried him. He couldn’t allow himself to get distracted again, not by anything. And especially, not by her.

He finished patching her up and began to pack up the kit once more. While he did, Rey laid down and closed her eyes. It reminded him of that morning, when he pulled her out of the nightmare. He looked away, focusing instead on what he was doing.

“I appreciate your help,” she said. “You’re right, if I had tried to apply the medicine I probably would have just made things worse.”

Kylo shrugged it off. “You helped me too. I merely returned the favor.”

Rey smiled at him. “I used to think the First Order was bad. That they were a heartless bunch who could never care about anything. But you—you seem decent.”

“I told you, I’m not exactly one of them.”

“But you still work with them,” she reminded him. She made a noise like she was about to start another sentence but stopped for some reason. Kylo figured it probably had something to do with his past and she had thought better of asking. Smart girl, she already knew where that conversation was going to go.

Kylo closed the medical kit. “You can work with someone and not fully support the choices they make,” he told her in a low voice. “I mean, look at the two of us.”

“Right. You don’t approve of me being a scavenger, and I don’t approve of you nearly dying in the heat because you’re too stubborn to listen to my advice.”

“You really want to see my face that badly?” he asked.

Rey shrugged. “It’s not about seeing your face so much as it is about you trusting me. I mean yeah, we’ve only known each other for about a day. But when have I ever done anything that would make you think I’d betray you?”

He had to admit, she had a point. It had only been a day, but for some reason it felt like longer. Maybe because this was the longest amount of time he’d spent with anyone in years. And he’d had conversations longer with her than he had with anyone in the First Order.

Kylo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What would it hurt? Like she said, there was no one she would tell. And even if she did, what would it matter? No one on Jakku knew who he was before he became Kylo Ren anyway. At least, not that he was aware of.

Reaching up, he pressed the release on his helmet and took it off his head. It was a little odd, being able to look at her now without a mask to hide behind. Now, she would see him looking back. And now that she could see his face, his emotions were free game. She would be able to see every smile, every eye roll, every exasperated look. He felt almost naked, showing his face at last to her. Now she saw him as he was—a person.

Rey was quiet while she looked him over. He couldn’t tell from her expression what she thought of him. Was she disgusted? Attracted? Indifferent? He had no idea. But he busied himself with putting his helmet up on a shelf and taking care of the medical kit.

“Wow,” she finally said after a while. “You really are a human.”

He winced. “Of course I am! I told you I was. You didn’t believe me?”

Rey’s eyes widened. “And your voice—it’s different too!”

She got to witness the first of probably many annoyed looks to come from him. “Were you expecting the mechanized one? Honestly girl, I thought you were smarter than this.”

“I don’t know what I was expecting,” she replied. “You’re younger than I thought you’d be. How old are you anyway?”

“This doesn’t change anything, girl. Just because you’ve seen my face doesn’t make us friends now.”

Rey rolled her eyes and turned away from him on the bed. “Fine. Excuse me for trying to make conversation. You can go back to being a jerk and not speaking to me now.”

He was surprised that her words actually stung a bit. Shaking them off, he made his way over to the table to grab some food from the bad. He considered offering to get some for her, but decided not to. As he had told her, nothing had changed between them. Even if whatever effect she had on him was starting to soften him towards her, he had to keep trying to pull away. Getting close was dangerous, and that was why, for both their sakes, he had to keep her at a distance.

“You’re handsome,” he heard her mumble into her pillow.

“What was that?” Kylo asked, unsure if he had heard her correctly.

She lifted her head to look at him. Her cheeks were slightly pink as she repeated “I said that you’re handsome. Your face—it’s nice.”

He didn’t know how to respond to it. The sudden compliment, especially coming after the harsh words they’d exchanged was surprising.

“Er—thanks,” he said awkwardly. “Your face is nice too, I suppose.”

Rey smiled a little then laid her head back down. “I’m going to get some rest now. Good night, Kylo.”

“Good night, Rey.” He then internally cursed and kicked himself. This happened every time. Every time he decided to pull back and stop being gentle with her, it would come right back. It was almost like he couldn’t help himself around her. She had a power over him that had nothing to do with the Force. Still, whatever it was, he had to continue trying. It would be the end of Kylo Ren if he didn’t.


	5. Chapter Five

There was silence in the AT-AT as Rey and Kylo lay on their beds. The latter had continued to read his book while Rey lay on her side, staring at the lines on the wall. Sometimes she marveled at just how many there were—one for every day she’d spent on Jakku. Well over a decade’s worth of lines. So many empty days spent waiting for a family who still hadn’t come back for her. Time wasted.

          _Don’t do that_ , she chastised herself. _Remember what that kind of thinking leads to._ And remember she did: Sleepless nights, a tear-stained pillow, not even wanting to get out of bed. Dark thoughts led to dark days, and dark days were not good days. No, she had to stay positive. They’d come back for her, one day.

          “You’re stressed,” she heard Kylo comment from the floor behind her.

          She curled up on the bed, refusing to look at him. She was still embarrassed about commenting on his looks. “What makes you say that?” she mumbled back.

          “I can feel it,” he replied, his tone almost bored. “And I know it’s why you’re not asleep yet.”

          Rey sat up and turned to face him. “So what? Why do you care how I’m feeling?”

          “I don’t. Just making conversation.” His eyes flickered to her momentarily, giving her a knowing look before returning to his book.

          She flushed. “You suddenly want to talk?”

          “Not really, but your stress is bothering me. Since you seem to like talking, I thought maybe it might make you lighten up.”

          Rey scoffed. “Thoughtful of you. Can’t you just shut off whatever it is that’s feeling my emotions?”

          “Can you shut off your ears from hearing things?” he asked sharply. “I’m Force-sensitive, it’s who I am. It’s not something I can just turn off on a whim.”

          “Sorry,” she apologized. “I’m not entirely sure how the Force works. Until I met you, I always thought it was just a myth.”

          He shook his head, eyes still on the book. “No, it’s very real. It’s also very dangerous, depending on whose hands are controlling it.”

          “What about your hands, Kylo?” Rey asked. “Are they dangerous?”

          Her question made him shift on his bed. “Depends on who it is trying my patience.”

          “Sounds dangerous to me,” she commented. “What’s it like to use the Force? Does it hurt you?”

          Kylo closed his book. He seemed to realize that he wasn’t going to get much reading done. “No, it doesn’t hurt. Not unless you push yourself too hard. It’s more of a—ah—warm feeling, I guess. One that surges through your body and then releases outwards like an invisible extension of your being when you use it.”

          “How do you use it?” Rey pressed, interested now.

          He looked thoughtful for a moment, as if he’d never considered it before. “I don’t know…I guess I just find that power inside of me and then push it out whenever I need to use it.”

          Rey fell silent as she processed his words. She wanted to ask more questions, find out how Kylo Ren first learned to use the Force. Then she realized it probably had something to do with the Jedi, which he would not talk about. It would be pointless to continue prying when she knew what was going to happen.

          “You seem curious about the Force,” Kylo noted. He sat up straighter on his makeshift bed. “Have you ever had any experience with it?”

          She shook her head. “Like I said, before I met you, I didn’t even know it was real.”

          He continued to look at her thoughtfully. “Maybe you’re Force sensitive too. I do feel something in you that I haven’t been able to place. I just thought it was—someone showing interest in me. It’s been a long time since that happened.”

          “No, it can’t be,” she insisted. “I can’t be Force sensitive. If I was, my life would have played out much differently, I think.”

          “One way to find out.” Kylo stood and headed towards where she was sitting on her bed. He stopped before her and then crouched down so that they were eye level with one another.

          Rey felt her cheeks get warm from the sudden closeness to him and looked down at her legs. “What are you doing?” she asked.

          “I’m going to see if you can use the Force,” he answered, softer than she expected. He reached up, but his hand stopped a few inches from her face. “May I?”

          Rey nodded, her throat suddenly feeling dry. “I guess so. What are you going to do?”

          He put his hand on the side of her face. The touch made her jump since she wasn’t expecting it. But she relaxed when she realized he wasn’t hurting her. His palm was soft and warm against her cheek. Rey almost leaned into it. She craved that skin-on-skin contact she had never had, and never knew she longed for until now.

          Then she felt something in her mind. She wasn’t sure how to describe it—it was like someone else was there. Someone else who was thinking with her, seeing what she saw, feeling what she felt—

          “Are you—are you in my mind?” she asked incredulously.

          “Yes,” he replied. “Try to calm your thoughts. It’s easier to look through your mind when everything isn’t so jumbled.”

          Rey realized how excited she was and made the effort to do as he asked. It was a very strange thing, having someone else in her mind. As he looked through her memories, she realized that she could see into his mind too. Though she knew she probably shouldn’t, the curiosity was too great. She decided to just take a quick look into his mind and—

          She was suddenly met with a large flurry of memories, some happy but most sad. A small Kylo Ren laughing and holding onto the hands of his parents—an older Kylo Ren curled up on his bed, clamping his ears shut as a malicious voice whispered to him—Kylo Ren as a young man in Jedi robes, standing side by side with an older, bearded man wearing the same robes, both holding lightsabers—Kylo Ren screaming in agony on the ground, holding his face while a gash down his back bled freely—

          Rey wrenched herself away and fell back onto the bed, panting and staring up at the ceiling. She put her hands over her face, trying to calm herself once more. When she was in Kylo’s mind, seeing his thoughts—it was like she felt everything that he did. She felt his happiness, his confusion, his sorrow, his pain. Rey squeezed her eyes shut. Why did that happen?

          “I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry,” she repeated to him over and over while she lay there, breathing heavily. She was surprised to feel tears burning in her eyes. “I don’t know what happened—I—”

          “You used the Force,” Kylo said, his voice calm and gentle.

          Rey peeked through her fingers at him. He was still sitting there on the bed, looking down at her with an odd expression on his face. He didn’t seem upset that she had just seen his personal memories. On the contrary, he looked like someone who had just had something confirmed for him.

          “So you do have it,” he mused. “That’s very interesting.”

          She sat up on the bed, looking him straight in the eye. “Please, tell me—what just happened? Why did I see all that?”

          He put a hand on her face and brushed a tear off her cheek with his thumb. It was a surprisingly tender gesture. She found it soothing. He went to take his hand away, but Rey whispered “Don’t” so he kept it there. He seemed to understand her need for affection now. After all, he had just been inside her mind and seen her loneliness firsthand. He also knew what it was like to crave that affection himself.

          “A normal person would have just had their thoughts invaded and let it happen,” he explained in a low voice. “A Force-sensitive would be able to see their mind being invaded and use that bridge to go inside their intruder’s mind instead. You used the Force to look inside my mind, Rey—not just anyone can do that.”

          She took slow, shuddering breaths as she looked into his dark eyes, processing this new information. “I can use the Force?” she asked slowly.

          He nodded in affirmation. “It runs as strongly through you as it does through me. Do you remember anything about your parents? Were they Jedi?”

          “I—I don’t know,” she replied, trying hard to remember what her mother and father were like. “I was only five when they left. I don’t remember much about them.”

          “There were rumors,” he went on “rumors of two Force users who left their child on Jakku to keep her safe after the collapse of the Empire. They were only rumors, but it looks like there may have been some truth to them.”

          Rey’s eyes widened and she lurched forward to grasp the front of Kylo’s shirt. “Do you know what happened to them? Please, I have to know. If they were my parents—I have to know what happened to them. I have to know!”

          Kylo took his hand from her face to grasp both her shoulders. “You need to calm down,” he said in a firm tone. “I know there’s a lot going on, but you have to get a hold of yourself.”

          She nodded and did as she was asked. Kylo helped her through it, instructing her to take deep breaths, hold them for a few seconds then let them out. With his guidance, she was back to normal in minutes.

          “I don’t know what happened to your parents,” he told her once she had calmed. “No one does. Like I said, they were just rumors.”

          “I see,” she replied, feeling very tired now after all the excitement. “Do you think they might still be alive?”

          He shrugged. “It’s difficult to say. Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers you seek. I know someone who might though.”

          “Who?” she asked sleepily.

          Kylo stared at her for a long while, as if debating something in his mind. “Nobody,” he finally replied. “You should get some rest. You’ve had a long day.”

          Rey winced, as she felt her wounds stinging. She had forgotten about the pain until now since there was so much else to think about. Slowly, she laid herself back down on the bed. Kylo watched her as she did, and she wondered what he was thinking about as he looked at her. Curious, she tried to see if she could enter his mind, but to no success. She’d been able to do it before because he had already established the connection. Now however, she didn’t know how to do it on her own.

          “I could teach you, if you want,” he offered as she got comfortable.

          She looked up at him in amazement. “You could show me how to use the Force?”

          “Yes,” Kylo replied. “It won’t be easy, and it takes years to master. If you wanted to learn though—I could teach you.”

          Rey nodded as she felt her eyelids begin to get heavy. “Okay,” she mumbled, giving in to the sudden wave of fatigue. “I’ll think about it.”

*   *   *

          After Rey fell asleep, Kylo returned to his bed on the floor to think about everything that had just happened between them. He was far more excited about Rey’s Force abilities than he had let on. Finally, he had met someone like him. Someone who was lonely, who sought belonging, and who had untold power running through their veins.

          It was as though their meeting was fated. After looking into Rey’s mind, and allowing her into his own he felt much closer with her than he had before. In fact, he felt closer to her than anyone he had ever known, even his own parents. It was as though she were a kindred spirit—someone who was meant to be with him. She was meant to become his apprentice, and he was going to ensure that she had the best education in the Force as he could give her.

          He had to get her back to the First Order. As much as he hated for her to get involved with them too, he had to start her training. And if she was going to be at his side, that meant she would have to work with them too. Kylo winced to think of her having to deal with General Hux’s degrading remarks. If he had anything to say about it, Rey would stay far away from him.

          Kylo looked back over at Rey’s sleeping form and felt his heart soften when he did. He knew it was dangerous to show such feelings but at the moment he was too genuinely happy to care. He felt like a little boy again, excited to be trained under his Uncle Luke as a Jedi. Luke was like him, someone who had the same abilities and would understand what he was going through.

Now as a man, he had Rey to share that understanding with. Luke might have let him down, but he fervently hoped she wouldn’t. After all, she could be what he was really seeking after all these years. Maybe he didn’t need to find Luke—maybe Rey was all he needed.

           


	6. Chapter Six

“What’s supposed to be happening exactly?”

“Nothing yet. I told you, just be patient.”

“I feel silly. Can’t we go back to working on the ship now?”

“You’re the one who wanted to learn how to use the Force. This is how it works.”

          Rey was standing on top of a small sand dune that Kylo Ren had created for her. They were out in the desert working on the ship but now that they had made some progress, Kylo suggested they stop for a break. And during that break, he had decided to give Rey her first lesson in the Force.

          So there she stood on top of the sand dune, holding her arms out like Kylo had told her to do. It had been over five minutes and her arms were starting to get sore. She was beginning to regret taking him up on his offer of teaching her. And while her wounds were feeling better after a night’s rest, they still stung a bit beneath the bandages.

          Finally, Kylo stepped closer. “Okay, you can put your arms down now,” he said, looking up at her.

          Rey didn’t think twice and immediately put her arms back down at her sides. “So what was the purpose of having me do that?” she demanded, hopping down off the dune.

          “To welcome the Force into you,” he explained, as if it were obvious.

          She made a face at his answer. “What?”

          “The Force isn’t just a random power that happens every so often then vanishes,” Kylo continued patiently. “It flows through everything, every living thing in this universe. It unites us, binds us, and gives us power. It’s an energy—one you have to first understand and welcome into your body before you learn to use it.”

          Rey rubbed her arms. “The only thing I felt from that little exercise is sore.”

          Kylo’s eyelids fluttered and he pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “Look, if you’re not going to take this seriously then I’m not going to teach you. You can figure it out on your own.”

          “No, I want to learn,” Rey said quickly. “I’m just not sure I understand.”

          “Here, let’s try this.” He moved beside her and held his arm out in front of him. “Put your hand on my arm.”

          Rey did as she was instructed. “Now what?” she asked.

          “I’m going to use the Force. See if you can feel it then. You’ll have to concentrate a bit, but you’ll know it when you feel it.”

          She closed her eyes. For a moment or two nothing happened. Then, suddenly, she felt a warmth that started in her hand and flowed through the rest of her body all the way down to her toes. It was a pleasant feeling, like a gentle breeze inside of her.

          “I know this feeling,” she said. “I’ve felt it once before.”

          Kylo lowered his arm and looked at her curiously. “You have?”

          Rey nodded. “Yes, there was one night when I was younger—maybe eleven or twelve. I was sitting out on top of the AT-AT looking up at the stars. It was so peaceful that I suddenly got this strange feeling inside of me. It felt just like that.”

          He put a finger to his lips in thought. “Hm that is interesting. Well, let’s get back to working on the ship and continue Force training later. It’s getting hot out here.”

          “I told you not to wear those dark clothes while we work,” Rey chided as they headed over to resume working. “I’ll sew you something lighter when we get back tonight.”

          Kylo raised an eyebrow at her. “You can make clothes?”

          “Sure,” she replied casually. “An old woman at Niima Outpost taught me how when I was younger. I still have the needle she gave me, and I’ll occasionally nick some thread when I need it.”

          “So you’re a criminal as well as a scavenger then?”

          Rey waved her hands mockingly at him. “Oh yes, all will kneel and tremble before Rey: The terrifying thread thief.”

          He smiled and for a moment she thought he might laugh. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be harsh,” he apologized.

          “Wow look at you,” said Rey, giving him a gentle punch on the shoulder. “You may actually be developing a conscience.”

          “Come on,” he huffed, kneeling down to dig through the tool box. “The less time we have to spend out in this damn heat, the better.”

          Rey was pleased to notice the change in Kylo over the past couple days. He was slowly becoming less cold and distant with her. She liked that she could make him smile now too. It seemed like he was coming out of his shell a bit. Maybe he was even starting to consider her a friend.

          “Can I ask why you came to Jakku in the first place?” she questioned while holding open a panel for him to get to the circuitry inside.

          “You can,” he replied “but I’m not going to give you a full answer.”

          “Well thank you for being honest, I suppose.”

          Kylo wrenched out a fried piece of circuitry, twisted it between his fingers for a moment before tossing it over his shoulder. “We’ll be needing more of those A-67 lockers,” he mumbled, sticking his hands back into the open panel to continue prying out the broken parts. “If you must know, I was looking for something.”

          “What were you looking for?”

          “And this is where the answer ends.”

          Rey clenched her jaw in annoyance. “I don’t get why you’re still being cryptic,” she grumbled. “I thought we’d already established there’s no one I’m going to tell your secrets to.”

          “It’s not that I think you’re going to tell someone,” he replied “it’s that you don’t need to know about it.”

          “But I want to know,” she pointed out.

          Kylo Ren sighed and paused in his work. “Look, you have secrets you don’t want to tell me, don’t you?”

          Rey shrugged her shoulders. “Not really. I’ve pretty much already told you everything there is to know about me.”

          “Well, I have secrets I don’t want to share with you,” he grunted. He seemed angrier than annoyed now. “We might not be enemies, but we’re not friends either. Nothing has changed here. Don’t forget, as soon as this ship gets finished I’m going back to the First Order.”

          He went back to working on the panel, and Rey was surprised at how much his words had hurt. And here she thought they were bonding—that he might consider her more than just a helping hand. No, it would seem that he was still fixed on getting out of there as soon as he could. And after everything that had transpired between them…

          Rey let go of the panel cover and it swung shut into Kylo’s shoulder. She got to her feet and began to set off towards the sand dunes. She felt silly, getting so upset about something she should have expected. Deep down though, she hoped that she had finally found someone to open up to. Someone who cared about her—someone who called her a friend.

          “Rey?” Kylo called from behind her. She heard the panel shut and his footsteps behind her, getting closer.

          “Just keep working on your ship,” she snapped, continuing on with her trek and not looking back. “I need to be alone for a little while.”

          Kylo did not go back to the ship, and she could still hear him behind her trying to catch up. Why was he following her anyway? What did he care about how she felt?

          “Rey, stop!” he yelled, sudden panic in his voice.

          “Just leave me alone!” she hollered back at him, quickening her pace.

          She heard his pace quicken too. He was running now. “Rey, look out!”

          The ground shook, and suddenly she looked up to find herself face to face with a giant, snake-like creature. It had blood red eyes and fangs the length of her arm. In her anger, she had been looking at the ground instead of ahead and hadn’t even seen it. Now it was just feet away, and raising its head to strike.

          Rey didn’t have time to do anything more than cover her head with her arms before it struck. She braced herself for the impact, but instead felt a Force push her from behind. Her body sailed out of harm’s way onto the slope of one of the dunes and something large landed on top of her.

          Turning, her head to look behind her, Rey saw that it was Kylo laying on top of her. He had jumped to push her out of the snake’s path. He arched his body protectively over hers and whispered an urgent “Don’t move,” into her ear. “It has infrared vision and will only see our bodies’ heat signatures if we move. We’ll be safe if we lay here on the sand.”

          The next few minutes were very tense. The sand snake turned its head every which way, trying to find its missing lunch. It slithered right past them, inches away from their position. When it decided that its prey was no longer anywhere in sight, the snake sauntered off back the way it came.

          Rey felt Kylo’s body relax after the snake left. “Thank the maker that’s over,” he muttered, rolling off of her and onto his back. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. “Sand snakes are nasty beasts.”

          “Thanks,” said Rey, sitting up and brushing sand out of her hair and clothes. “You saved my life just now.”

          Kylo cocked an eye open at her. “You live here—don’t you know the dangers of going off alone like that without paying attention? You could have been killed.”

          “Why do you care?” Rey asked, turning away from him. “I’m not your friend.”

          He stared at her. “That’s why you stormed off? Because I said you’re not my friend?”

          She dug her fingers into her legs, angry with herself for being this upset. “I just—I hoped you thought more of me now.”

          Kylo didn’t say anything. Sighing, Rey got to her feet and began to slowly trudge back towards the ship. “Forget it,” she mumbled, gesturing for him to follow. “Come on, let’s get this over with then.”

*   *   *

          The two barely spoke the rest of the day after the snake attack. In fact, the only dialogue they exchanged was about the ship. Kylo couldn’t understand why she was so upset. He’d only voiced the truth. They weren’t friends…were they? Kylo had never really had friends before so he wasn’t entirely sure how it worked.

          Apparently the girl had been wanting him as a friend though, because as they worked he could tell she was truly hurt by his words. She didn’t smile, try to ask him any more personal questions, or say anything to him for that matter. It was like her expression was set in stone, and when they packed up to leave for the day she walked several feet ahead of him.

          It wasn’t until he was following her home that he realized he didn’t like her being this way. He found himself missing her smiles, her laughter, and her annoying ways of trying to wheedle his back story out of him. He had gotten used to it and now that it was gone—he missed it.

          He stared at her back, noticing her change in posture too. She walked with hunched shoulders and a quick pace, trying to keep her distance from him. Kylo didn’t like that he felt bad for hurting her. He shouldn’t feel bad over something so trivial. But maybe Rey wasn’t as trivial to him as he thought she was. Maybe there was a closer bond between them, one he kept trying to convince himself didn’t exist.

          They got back to the AT-AT and he helped Rey put all the tools back. Kylo tried to think of something he could say to her. He wanted her to know that he did think more of her than just a hired helper. Before he could say anything though, he spotted a figure in the distance heading towards them.

          Rey had noticed it too. “It’s another scavenger,” she said, grabbing her staff from its place by the front door.

          Kylo squinted, and realized she was correct. As the figure got closer, he recognized them as the scavenger from the other day. He was the one that Kylo had used the mind trick on to go get their ship parts from town. He carried a large bag with him, so the requested parts must be in there.

          “Go inside,” Kylo instructed “I’ll go talk to him. It’s okay, he’s the one I sent to run a few errands for us.”

          The girl shrugged, put her staff down then went inside. His talk with her would have to come later. Miffed by the interruption, Kylo trudged over to meet the scavenger and receive the parts from him.

          When he entered the AT-AT after sending the scavenger away, Rey was already laying on her bed. She had her back to him, but he knew she wasn’t asleep yet. Setting the bag down by the door, Kylo went over and sat down beside the bed. He leaned his back against it and twisted his hands together.

He hadn’t planned what he was going to say to her. Opening up to others was not something he was good at. His walls were built high and strong, so no one could ever get inside and see how he really felt. Rey had been there though—she had been inside his mind and felt everything he had. As reluctant as he was to let her in again, he couldn’t just let her continue to be hurt. She meant something to him, even if he wasn’t sure what that was. And for that reason, he had to try and make amends.

          “I’m sorry I hurt you,” he began. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

          She didn’t respond, instead curling up into a tighter ball.

          Kylo went on. “The reason I don’t consider us friends is because—well—I don’t consider myself to be a friend-worthy person. You see, I’ve never had any friends before. Even when I was young, there wasn’t anyone like that in my life really. And now that I’ve met you—believe me, Rey, you don’t want me as a friend.”

          “Well why not?” she asked, sitting up and looking over at him. “You can’t keep up that mean, tough guy act forever. Eventually you’re going to want friends in your life.”

          “That’s just it though,” he replied “I can’t have any friends in my life.”

          Rey narrowed her eyes at him. She pushed herself off the bed and knelt down next to him in the floor. Looking him directly in the eye, she said in a low voice “You’re afraid.”

          Kylo stared back at her, his sympathy turning to anger at her accusation. Then he turned away, looking down at his knees like an impetuous child. “No I’m not,” he shot back.

          “Yes you are,” Rey argued. “I’ve been in your mind and I’ve seen your fear. You’re afraid of many things, but especially of letting others in.”

          “I let _you_ in,” he pointed out. Though after he said it, he realized quickly that it wasn’t going to help his case much.

          “Why though?” she pressed. “Why let me in then and shut me out now? What difference is there?”

          Kylo’s jaw clenched, determined to prove her wrong. “That was—I—it was just a test. It was a test to see if you could use the Force.”

          “There are other ways to test that though, you showed me today. Why let me see into your mind?”

          Her questions were forcing him into a corner. He could feel his control slipping away from him. What had started out as a simple apology had turned into a full on interrogation. Only in this interrogation, he had no answers for her.

          “Well?” she said, folding her arms impatiently as he stumbled about for an answer. “Why did you do it? Why did you allow me to see thoughts that you wouldn’t let anyone else see?”

          Kylo couldn’t hold back anymore. Turning to look her in the eye once more, he said quietly and calmly “Because I needed to.”

          Rey looked surprised by this answer. Eyebrows raised, she slowly repeated “You needed to?”

          He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning his body to face her. “I’ve bottled up so much of my thoughts and emotions over the years that it’s become overwhelming. I had problems when I was younger, but my father and mother were always busy so I couldn’t open up to them. My uncle—he wouldn’t understand either. So everything I’ve ever thought or felt has been kept inside.”

          The girl studied his face as if unsure if he was being truthful or tricking her. “So you’ve never opened up to anyone before about anything? Ever?”

          He shook his head. Some part of his mind knew he should stop himself and not let her know all this personal information. But when he looked at her, with those curious brown eyes and that soft, gentle face—he just couldn’t stop himself. He let the words flow freely out of him, as he had been longing to do for years now.

          “Ever since I met you, I’ve been trying so hard to keep you at a distance,” he admitted. “It’s what I do to everyone I’ve ever known. It’s all I know how to do. And that’s why—that’s why you don’t want me as a friend, Rey. All I’d do is push you away and hurt you.”

          She looked sad now, and her eyes began to glisten. “You’ve been alone,” she whispered, and he could hear the emotion building up in her voice. “All these years, you’ve only had yourself to turn to when things were bad. I know how that feels…I’ve been alone too.”

          Slowly, Rey reached her arms out and wrapped them gently around Kylo’s head. His first instinct was to push her away, but he realized that this was the first time anyone had held him in years. It was a nice, tender gesture. She was soft, warm, and he could feel her heartbeat against his head. So he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her too, pulling her closer to him.

          “I wanted to get away from you,” Kylo murmured. “I thought at first it was because you would ruin my plans. I see now it’s because I didn’t want to put you in harm’s way. Being friends with me would be dangerous for you.”

          “I don’t care,” Rey said firmly. “I need you—we need each other.”

          Kylo nodded. He knew she was right, and he knew that this was an argument he was going to give in to. Besides, he had already thrown caution to the wind when he opened up to her. It was too late to try and pull away from her again. Everything was out in the open, and now that he had accepted Rey as a friend, he was determined not to let her go.


	7. Chapter Seven

That night,  Kylo slept in Rey's bed. It had been Rey's idea, inviting him to sleep beside her since it was more comfortable there than on the floor. Since he had given in almost completely to how he felt about her,  Kylo agreed. Rey went to sleep instantly but  Kylo remained awake. 

He stared at the back of her head, conflicted of what to do now. By letting Rey into his heart he had turned away from everything he'd learned over the past eight years. He'd allowed light into himself and now—what was he going to tell his Master?

It wasn't just himself he was worried for. He could find some way around his own problems. But if  Snoke found out about Rey, he wasn't sure he could protect her. Rey was a Force-sensitive. If  Snoke discovered her and her power then he would want her too.  Kylo was strong, but he didn't think he was strong enough to take on his Master just yet.

There was one thing he was certain of though: He would protect Rey at all costs. No matter what the outcome, no matter what problems they had to face, he would protect her. He had to—she was all he had now.

"Still awake?" he heard Rey ask suddenly. 

"Yeah," he mumbled back. "Can't sleep."

Rey rolled over so that they were face to face. "What's on your mind?"

Kylo almost snorted at the question. "We'd be up all night if I told you everything."

"Okay, well then tell me what the biggest problem is."

"I'm worried about you," he admitted. "What I'm involved with—who I'm involved with—it's not exactly safe. Or morally sound for that matter."

Her expression remained unchanged. "So? I thought we agreed we're in this together now, no matter what happens."

"I know but you're my first friend and I don't want to lose you. I don't want you getting involved in something you can't come back from."

Rey smiled and put a hand lightly over his. "We'll be fine. We're both strong, right? I don't think there's anything we can't get through together."

Her positivity was nice to hear, but it didn't break through the cloud of anxiety hanging over him. She couldn't be blamed for not seeing why he was so worried though. Rey had never met  Snoke before, or had any experience with the First Order or the Dark Side. How could she know the dangers they faced in their future?

"Let's run away," she suggested in a low voice.

"What?" 

In the darkness of the room, her eyes were bright from the pale moonlight that was peeking through the window. "Let's leave—both of us. We can go somewhere else and start our lives over. We'd be free to live how we want to."

Kylo sat up in bed, staring down at her incredulously. "You want to just run away from everything? From your entire life here?"

"There is no life for me here," Rey replied, rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. "I dig through garbage every day just to feed myself. It's no life—it's a prison. I want to be free,  Kylo . I want to live somewhere else, experience new things. I don't want to be here anymore."

"But your family," he argued "what about them?"

Rey frowned. He was surprised to see tears starting to fall down the sides of her face. "I'm tired of waiting for them," she said quietly. "I can't wait here forever. If they haven't come back for me by now—maybe they really don't want me."

"Don't say that,"  Kylo said sharply. "Why would anyone not want you? You're so— " He stopped himself there. They had just formed this unsteady friendship. If he went any further, he wasn't sure what could happen.

She looked at him, and when she smiled he knew that she had figured out what he wanted to say. "Thank you," she said "but I can't wait any longer. If they're not going to find me then maybe I— I can try and find them."

Rey sat up and turned so that she was facing him again. "What about you?"

He didn't meet her eye. "What about me?" he repeated glumly.

"Don't you want to escape everything too?"

Kylo shook his head. "I don't know. This life is all I've known for so long. I don't know if I could just walk away from it."

He felt Rey's hand on his face and allowed her to turn his head so that he was looking at her again. "Yes you can. Whatever power you think is controlling you, it doesn't have to be that way. It's your life and you have a choice— make the choice that takes you away with me."

He gazed at her solemnly. "You would want a life with me?" he murmured doubtfully.

She smiled, and he felt his heart warm when she did. Looking at her, taking in her beauty, her courage, her determination, and her positivity had an astounding affect on him. It was like she was an embodiment of the light he had always strayed away from—warm, inviting, and completely forbidden. 

"I do," she told him firmly. "Which is why I think that as soon as we get your ship finished, we should leave  Jakku and find somewhere new to start over."

He put his hand over hers and leaned into her touch. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to be overwhelmed by her light.

"It won't be easy," he warned her. "There's a lot wrong with me. And if you want to leave— I won't stop you or blame you for it."

She shook her head. "No, that's not going to happen. We'll get through this together. We can beat the darkness in both of us but we can't do it by ourselves. It's going to take time, but I have faith that it can be done."

He sighed. "I wish I had the endless supply of positivity that you seem to have."

"Trust me, I'm not always this way," she assured him. "Now get some sleep so you can keep up your energy. You're going to need it if we want to get that ship done anytime soon."

Kylo nodded, and they both laid back down on the bed to go to sleep. He turned onto his side so he was facing away from her. He could still feel her warmth against his back and he suppressed a sigh of happiness. Rey wanted to be with him— she wanted the two of them to run away together. 

The more he considered it, the more appealing the idea became. He had been torn up for so long between the dark and the light, and now it was time to put an end to it. With a new life and Rey at his side, he could finally be whole. And perhaps their new life didn't need to be light or dark. Maybe, together, they could be the grey in between.

*  *  *  *

"No,"  Kylo grumbled, looking down apprehensively at the clothes Rey had stitched together for him.

Rey rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, I really did try on those you know." She folded her arms and gave him a disapproving look. "A simple 'thank you' would be nice."

The "thank you" she wanted did not appear to be forthcoming. "I suppose it's not for too long," he mused.

"No it's not. You'll survive the experience of wearing scavenger rags."

"It's not that," he said quickly, and she could tell he was finally realizing that his apprehension was offending her. "I just— I haven't worn anything like this before. It feels strange."

Rey clapped him on the back. "Like I said, it won't be for forever. And anyway, if I can wear them for fourteen years then you can certainly wear them for a day or two."

She had to admit, he looked so much different wearing the light-colored garb of a  Jakku scavenger. It made his skin look less of a sickly pale since it was no longer contrasting with the black. He also seemed more relaxed and less intimidating in them than he did in his First Order clothes. Rey felt hopeful looking at him. He had changed so much over the past couple days and she hoped the changes were there to stay.

As they went out that morning to resume work on the ship, Rey's spirits were higher than she could remember them ever being before. She had taken a chance on suggesting to  Kylo that they run away together. He had just seemed so torn, so in need of escape that she couldn't help but try to get him away from it all. And when he agreed, she was absolutely elated. Finally, her friend was going to get the freedom he needed. They both were.

Happy as she was to be getting off of  Jakku , it was a bittersweet thing for Rey. After all,  Jakku was the only home she knew. Even though she had spent her entire time there wishing her family would return for her,  Jakku was where she had become who she was today. Just like the winds formed the sand dunes in the east, the harsh desert had formed her. It had beat her down, wrenched all the happiness from her spirit and hardened her to the ways of the land. Somehow she had still come out of it all with a kind, compassionate heart.

"Where do you want to go?"  Kylo asked her as they neared the ship hidden beneath the sand.

"What?" she asked, broken out of her reverie by the question.

"When we get off  Jakku ," he explained "where do you want to go from here?"

Rey hadn't thought about that. She'd only gotten as far as breaking through  Jakku's atmosphere. After that, she didn't have any set plans. As long as they went somewhere far away, she didn't care where it was.

"I don't know," she replied truthfully. "Somewhere beautiful, I think."

Kylo turned away, and she thought that was the end of the conversation. Then he looked at her again and she was surprised to see he was smiling about something.

"I know where we could go," he told her.

"Where?"

He just continued to smile and turned away once more. "You'll see. It's a surprise."

Rey jogged so that she was walking beside him. "Oh come on, tell me. It'd better not be back to the First Order."

"No," he said sharply, looking somewhat miffed at the suggestion. "Trust me, it's somewhere I think you'll like. I used to go there when I was younger with my mother, father, and uncle."

"Really?" she asked, intrigued at his mention of family. 

He nodded but didn't say any more on the topic. Rey realized that, even though they had formed a shaky friendship he was likely still hesitant to talk about his painful history. She decided she would give him time with that. H e would tell her about it in his own time .

"They'll come after us, you know," he said as he cleared the sand off his ship. "It's not going to be an easy life."

Rey nodded. "I understand. But we're strong, aren't we?"

Kylo half-smiled at that. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"You can train me in using the Force," she suggested. "You said I have potential, right?"

"Yes, but a few months of training may not be enough against what we'll have to face."

"What is it we'll be facing exactly?"

Kylo's smile vanished and his mouth became a thin, hard line. "Nothing good."

"Yeah, I got that."

"It's a dangerous force that even I don't understand. He goes by Supreme Leader  Snoke , and he's not someone you ever want to meet or have to face."

Rey got chills just hearing the name. "Who is he?"

"My Master," said  Kylo . "He's a very powerful force user. Much of who he is remains shrouded in mystery. I only know a fraction about who and what he really is."

"Strange," was all she could say in response to that. It made her sick with fear to think about such a horrible being. She could only imagine what  Snoke was and what he looked like. Rey fervently hoped she would never have to see him and find out.

"It'll be difficult to hide from him,"  Kylo mused as he opened up the fried panel that needed replacing on the ship. "I'm afraid he won't rest until he finds us. It's the same as when Luke disappeared."

Rey's ears perked up at the name. "Luke? As in Luke Skywalker?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "You've heard of him then?"

She nodded. "Of course. All kinds of people pass through this planet at some point. I've heard stories about him— he was real then?"

"He's more than real,"  Kylo replied quietly "he's my uncle."

Rey's jaw dropped. "You?  You're the nephew of the Luke Skywalker?"

Kylo shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. "Yeah, I am. He's my mother's twin brother."

"That's incredible," said Rey, nearly dropping all the tools in her hand to rush over to him and demand more information. She remained where she was though and continued to work. They had to get the ship done quickly, after all.

"He took me away from home when I was about eleven or twelve,"  Kylo went on, surprising Rey with his willingness to finally talk more about his early life. "My mother and father were always away—and when they were there, they were always fighting. Luke knew I needed a more stable environment so he took me with him to train me as a Jedi— like he and my grandfather were."

In spite of what she promised herself, Rey had stopped working and was leaning over the wing of the ship. She looked at  Kylo Ren in wonder as he spoke of the man she had always heard fascinating stories of but never knew to be real.

"Your grandfather was a Jedi too?" she said in a reverent whisper.

Kylo looked at her, and he suddenly burst into laughter. "I'm sorry, but your face— I wish you could see how you look right now."

Rey didn't care if she looked silly. Her attention was not to be averted from this engrossing story. "Tell me more about your family," she pleaded. "Your uncle, what was he like? Your mother, was she beautiful and strong? How about your father, who was he? And your grandfather, did you know him?"

He made a face at her. "Okay, slow it down. I'll tell you a little bit about them but some things— I don't think I'm ready to share a few things with you yet. Is that fair?"

She nodded. "Yes, share only what you're comfortable sharing."

So while they worked on the ship,  Kylo finally opened up to Rey about his past. He was born to Princess Leia (Rey had to have him repeat that a few times before she believed it) and the smuggler Han Solo. He was born not long after the battle of  Endor , when the galaxy was finally starting to have some peace.

His mother was a Resistance fighter, and even with the Empire's defeat her work was not yet finished.  Kylo's early memories of her were a strict but loving mother. Later on though, she was there less and less. She just sort of drifted away from her son. Rey could tell  Kylo was hurt by that, as he refused to divulge more of his thoughts and feelings on the subject.

Han Solo, his father, was a rascal before  Kylo was born. After his son's birth, Han gave up his smuggler life for a little bit to be there for his family. As  Kylo recalled though, he was not much of father material during that time. He and Leia fought a good deal, often resulting in Han leaving Leia home alone with their son for days on end. Sometimes it was Leia who left, and while Han remained with  Kylo he struggled to be a good influence. He couldn't stay away from his former life for too long, and when  Kylo was only four he returned to smuggling.

Luke stepped in when they had both seemed to have given up on family life. He reached out to  Kylo , offering to train him in the Force. It wasn't until  Kylo was eleven that Leia relented and sent her son to train with his uncle. Luke and  Kylo worked on trying to restore the Jedi Order together, but it fell apart when  Kylo was in his early twenties. Beyond that, he would not say how it happened or why.

Rey suspected he was afraid to tell her what happened. She thought the reason everything fell apart was his doing and he was ashamed of himself for it. She wondered what could have happened to drag him away from the light and into  Snoke's clutches. If he didn't want to tell her just yet though, she wasn't going to try and  weedle it out of him.

"What about you?" he asked her as they stopped midday to eat some lunch. "What do you remember about your family?"

She paused with her water canteen halfway to her lips. It was a good question, one she never really gave much thought to. "Not much," she replied honestly. "I can only think of bits and pieces."

Kylo was looking at her, his brow creased. "So if you don't remember them, how will you know when you see them again? Do you think they did come back but you just didn't know it was them?"

Rey shook her head. "I'll know them when I see them. I'm sure of that. I remember what my parents look like—my mother more than my father."

Her companion looked like he wanted to say something. He was twisting his fingers together in silent contemplation, as if deciding if it were a good idea or not. After a few moments of this, he made his decision.

"Why did they leave you here?"

She closed her eyes. Setting her water back down, she replied in a voice barely above a whisper "That's the one thing I do remember."

Rey could feel his gaze on her, waiting for her to explain what happened. He didn't say anything, perhaps gauging whether or not it was something she wanted to share. He had opened up to her though, so she decided that now it was her turn to do the same.

"There was— something about them," she started shakily. "It was something bad, I think. I never knew what it was exactly but I just got that feeling, you know? The feeling that something wasn't right."

He nodded in understanding. "I know that feeling pretty well."

"I was too little to understand what was going on, but I do remember we moved around a lot. I can't tell you all the places we lived— I just remember them being not very nice. One day though, we took off in the ship and landed here on  Jakku . I got out with mother— father was still in the ship— and she walked me out into the desert."

Rey tried to remember all the details but it was nearly impossible. She couldn't recall where on  Jakku it was, or how her mother was dressed, or what was said to her to get her off the ship. Her heart clenched when she recalled it though, because it was very clear what happened next.

"She told me to wait there for them," she went on. "She told me I would be safe there until they could come back for me. My mother made me promise not to leave  Jakku \--not until they came for me."

A lump was developing in her throat, so she took another swig of water to push it back down. Her eyes were beginning to burn, and she knew it wasn't from the hot, desert climate.

"So they left you there to protect you,"  Kylo reasoned after Rey had been silent for several moments.

She shrugged a shoulder. "I guess. I like to think that's what happened anyway. The alternative is— maybe they felt like I was in their way. They didn't want me interfering with whatever life it was that they lead, so they left me here."

"I don't think that's what happened," he insisted. "Leaving your child is not easy, you know."

Rey looked at him then and he looked thoughtful about her story. "How would you know that?" she inquired curiously.

"Because my own mother had to do the same thing. I remember the days leading up to me going with Luke. My mother— she was devastated. She knew it was better for me if I went with him but she still hurt. I saw her cry and I knew then just how difficult it was going to be for her. Parents don't give up their children unless they know it's what's best for them."

"So you think my mother and father leaving me in the middle of a desert by myself was what was best for me?" Rey asked doubtfully.

"Maybe it was," he replied, turning to look at her. "Whatever life your parents lived obviously wasn't safe for you--that must be why they moved around so much. Eventually it just got to the point where you'd be safer somewhere no one would think to look for you."

"But who would look for me?" 

He shook his head. "That I don't know. All I know is that your parents did something that got them in trouble and they had to keep you safe."

She scoffed. "You're giving them an awful lot of credit."

"Well, did anything about them ever suggest to you that they didn't love you?"

Rey tried hard to remember her time with her parents. Her mother, she remembered, was lovely and had a pretty laugh. Her father's face was more of a blur, but every so often she'd think of a face and wonder if it belonged to him after all. He was a quiet man, and Rey just remembered that he loved playing chess. She would sit on her mother's lap while they played. Whenever her mother made a good move, she would laugh her pretty laugh while her father would jokingly groan and make funny faces at Rey to get her giggling too.

"I think they did," she said slowly as she recalled the games of chess. "At least, I like to think they did."

Kylo got up and went over to her. She watched him kneel down before her, wondering what he was going to say. He looked her in the eye as he gently said "Your parents didn't abandon you— they saved your life."

He said it with such surety that Rey's suspicions were raised. "How do you know that?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Because I think I might know who your parents are."

She stared at him, not daring to believe his words for a minute lest she get her hopes up. "You do?" she replied slowly.

"Yes, at least I think so. The story seems to line up— it's a place to start anyway." He paused then gave her an unsure look. "I held off on mentioning it before because— well, it's not the happiest story. Are you sure you want to hear it?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I want to know more about who my parents were, whatever that might mean. So go head, I can handle it."

Rey listened attentively as  Kylo described to her two people, a man and a woman, who were dark Force users. A year or two after Luke had taken  Kylo into his care, they had traveled to  Coruscant to investigate some rumors of Force-sensitives that arose after the Empire's fall. 

In  Coruscant , they were told about two people,  Aren and Reva  Akane who could use the Force. No one knew where they came from, only that they were radicals who went around torturing and killed any remaining Imperials. Since this did not align with Jedi teachings, they were labeled as Dark Jedi and sought out by Luke.

"We tried to find them for about three years,"  Kylo explaining. "During that time, it was rumored there was a child traveling with them. That was never proved though. Eventually, the killings stopped and we never heard any more about them again. So Luke decided to end the search."

"You think they could have been my parents?" Rey asked, feeling numb at this unexpected news.

"I can't say. I just know that before they disappeared they were last seen heading for  Jakku ."

Rey felt sick. She hugged herself, hoping that the rumors about these two people who could have been her parents were not true. "The names sound familiar," she admitted softly.

Kylo reached out and gingerly touched her face as she had done to him the previous night. "It's not for sure," he told her gently. "And everything they did was just rumor anyway. We'll find out the truth, I promise you."

She felt a rush of warm gratitude for his attempt to make her feel better. "Okay," she replied, getting to her feet once more. "Come on, let's get this ship done so you can make good on that promise."


	8. Chapter 8

          Rey was standing at the base of the sand dune, waiting for someone to come over the crest of the hill. Her parents? No, they wouldn’t be there on Jakku. Kylo Ren? Yes, that was it. They had been working on the ship and he had told her to go ahead while he made some final adjustments. Still, what was taking him so long?

          Just as Rey was beginning to get ready to go back over and search for him, she saw a shape moving at the top. She smiled and was about to call out to them when suddenly more shapes followed the first one. Her words caught in her throat as a fully masked, black-cloak clad Kylo Ren descended the sand dune, followed by a mass of Storm Troopers.

          She had only seen Storm Troopers once before when they were doing surveillance on Jakku for an escaped criminal. Rey had seen and heard enough about their behavior to know that they were not to be trifled with. Scared, she began to back away but found that her feet felt like they were sinking into the sand. That was strange—she was miles away from the parts of the desert where she could sink. Rey struggled to free herself as Kylo Ren and his small army marched towards her.

          “Don’t fight it, scavenger,” she heard Kylo call to her, his voice once again deepened and warped by the helmet. “You can’t get away from us—from me.”

          “What’s going on?” Rey demanded of him as he got closer. “I thought you were my friend.”

          Kylo reached out his hand and used the Force to pull her to him. He held her by the shoulders, his gloved fingers digging into her. “I am your friend, Rey,” he replied. “That’s why I’m taking you back with me to the First Order.”

          She shook her head, wishing she could look him in the eye rather than at the cold, black and silver mask. “No, that wasn’t the plan,” she argued. “We were going to run away together—away from the First Order. You wanted to be free, remember?”

          “I want you, Rey,” he said, pulling her closer to him. “You’ll be by my side when the First Order rules the galaxy.”

          “This isn’t right,” Rey growled through gritted teeth. “Let me go! I don’t want to be with you if it means working with the First Order.”

          He put his hand on her face. Her body suddenly felt heavy and she couldn’t move a muscle. Kylo then scooped her up into his arms and turned back towards the sand dune. “You’ll come to appreciate the Dark Side someday. I promise.”

          Rey opened her eyes and she was lying in bed. The room was still dark, so it was not yet morning. She took a deep breath then let it out slowly. It had only been a dream after all. Even so, she could still feel those gloved hands digging into her shoulders.

          She rolled over and saw Kylo there. He was sleeping soundly in scavenger rags and no mask. Rey stared at him for a few moments, surprised at how different he looked when asleep. His face was free of all the burdens it carried during the day, making him look quite at peace with the world. The tension in his shoulders was gone, allowing him to be splayed out and relaxed on the bed.

          As Rey examined him, she thought back to the first time he had revealed his face to her. From the beginning, she found him to be rather handsome in terms of looks. Now, seeing him asleep, he looked just as much if not more appealing than he did when he was awake. It gave Rey a strange feeling in her stomach that she could not place but did not think was unpleasant. She had definitely never felt that before.

          Her eyes felt heavy and she laid back down beside him on the bed. Rey wondered if he would turn on her like he had in the dream. She realized how much she hoped he would never do such a thing. It had been a risk, allowing him into her home and her heart. After all, betrayal was a distinct possibility and Rey had never before put her trust in anyone. All she could do was hope that she had made the right decision in trusting him.

*   *   *

          The next morning, Kylo woke before Rey did. He smiled when he saw that she had fallen asleep facing him. Her long brown hair was out of its usual buns and spread out on the cloth pillow beneath her head. Kylo was sure he would never get over how truly remarkable she looked.

          His eyes wandered over the rest of her body. He was hyper-aware of every bit of skin showing. Kylo felt his heart rate pick up and his hand clench the bed sheet when he noticed part of her breast showing through the sleeve beneath her arm. He turned away, taking more than a few deep breaths to banish the sensations suddenly rushing through him. Rey had just become his friend—he didn’t want to ask for any more than that just yet.

          Getting up from the bed, he stretched then made his way over to the washing chamber to wash up and get ready for the day. It seemed a bit counter-productive to wash now when he was just going to go out into the desert to work and get all sweaty again. Still, it was a habit of his to do the washing in the morning.

          Kylo pulled off the scavenger tunic and trousers that Rey had made for him. He ran his fingers affectionately over the stitched seams in them. Even though he had turned his nose up at the clothes at first, he was touched that she’d put in the effort for him. She had been so worried about him dying from the heat that she had gone and made him some new clothing. He smiled, folded the clothes up, and laid them carefully on the floor so he could wash himself.

          When he was finished, he went out and saw that Rey had already arisen and was eating a small chunk of bread. She grinned when she saw him but then her cheeks turned pink and she looked away quickly. Kylo realized he hadn’t put his tunic back on yet. She must be embarrassed to see him without it on.

          “Sorry,” he apologized, hastily pulling the tunic over his head. He could feel his own cheeks burn slightly from the blunder.

          Rey shook her head. “It’s alright. Have you had breakfast yet?”

          Kylo accepted the slice of bread she offered him and sat down beside her to eat it. “Well, today’s the day—are you ready to leave Jakku?”

          “Sort of,” she replied, finishing her bread. “I’ll be glad to get away from everything but at the same time I feel like I’m giving up.”

          “Giving up?”

          “Yes—on my parents.”

          He laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re not giving up. We’re going to find them now instead of waiting for them to find you. You never had the opportunity to look for them before so it’s going to feel different.”

          She nodded slowly. “I suppose so. I think I’m going to miss this place, in a way.” Rey looked around at the AT-AT interior that she had fashioned into a home for herself. “I spent so many years dreaming that I was someplace else and now that I’m actually leaving, I feel reluctant to go.”

          Kylo finished his bread then stood once again. He offered a hand to Rey and pulled her to her feet. When she was up, he did not immediately release her hand. Instead, he gave it a squeeze, looked her in the eye and said “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be just fine.”

          They packed up their tools and supplies for the journey across the galaxy and headed out to work on the ship for what would hopefully be the last time. Kylo couldn’t deny, he was eager to get off of Jakku. While his time with Rey had formed him into a new man, he still hated the desert. It was too hot for his taste and there was too much sand. He couldn’t wait to take Rey with him and show her the new world he’d promised her.

          She walked by his side, talking about planets she had heard about from travelers at the outpost and her desire to see them. He laughed when she said she wanted to visit Dagmar, the marsh planet. Rey defensively told him that she had never seen a marsh before and wanted to experience what it felt like to walk in one.

          Though he was looking forward to this potential new life with Rey, Kylo still felt apprehensive. After all, defecting from the First Order was no small task. They had ways of tracking down their targets throughout the galaxy. Still, Luke Skywalker had managed to do it. Perhaps he and Rey could manage to do the same.

          Kylo wondered if he should try and bring Rey to Luke instead of the place he had in mind. He was uncertain if he had the courage to face his uncle just yet. After all, their last parting had not been under the best circumstances. It might take some more time before Kylo was ready to see him again.

          They got to the ship and immediately set about making the final repairs. Hardly a word was spoken between the two while they worked since both were eager to get it finished. Even their break for lunch was quick and without much dialogue. By early afternoon, Kylo was cautiously optimistic that they were done.

          “Think it’ll fly?” Rey asked as she wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist.

          “It should,” he replied, closing up the panel he had just finished working on. “The new fuel pump is where it needs to be and the secondary alternator was humming when I fired it up earlier. We covered all the minor damages too so I see no reason why it won’t work now.”

          She got to her feet, stretching her fingers after the hours spent holding tools. “Well, only one way to find out. Why don’t you fire it up and go for a test flight?”

          He approached, smiling down at her. “Can you fly?”

          “I can, yes.” He gestured to the ship and Rey held up her hands. “Whoa, hang on. You want _me_ to fly it?”

          “I don’t see why not,” Kylo replied. “Not that I don’t think it’s going to work, I just want to see what kind of a pilot you are.”

          She looked uncertainly at the ship. “I don’t know. It’s been a while and I’m not very good.”

          He gave her an encouraging pat on the back. “You don’t have to go very far, just take it up for a few minutes then touch back down. If you’re not comfortable doing it, I can. I just thought I’d give you the opportunity in case you wanted to try.”

          Rey was silent for a few moments then smiled. “Okay, I’ll give it a go.”

          Kylo watched as she climbed up and slid into the cock pit. He backed up as she started the ship so that the wing wouldn’t hit him on takeoff. There were a few tense moments as nothing happened, and Kylo worried that the ship wasn’t actually fixed after all. He felt his heart begin to sink to his stomach. They would have to spend more time fixing it—Rey would have to spend more time on Jakku.

          Then there was a roar as the ship came to life. Kylo’s triumphant laugh was drowned out by the loud take off as it soared upwards into the sky. He watched, feeling elated and proud as Rey flew the ship across the desert. She really was one hell of a pilot. He was glad that he’d encouraged her to try it out since she was doing a great job of it.

          As Kylo Ren was thinking about how exciting it was going to be to travel across the galaxy with her, he saw something else in the sky that made his heart stop: A fleet of First Order ships.

          “No,” he said aloud as he watched the fleet heading right towards him. They must have found the data for his final coordinates before the ship crashed. And now they had come to take him back.

          Kylo’s mind raced. If they found him and Rey, they would in all likelihood kill her just because she was a scavenger. That was something he could not allow to happen at any cost. And with her still test flying the ship there was no way he could get a message to her in time.

          Or was there? Rey was Force-sensitive like him. There was a small chance that he could try and speak to her. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to calm down, Kylo tried to reach Rey with a telepathic link that the Force enabled two people to sometimes have. In his mind, he reached out to Rey, trying to warn her of the incoming fleet. At least he could get her back to the ground before the fleet mistook her for a thief and shot her down.

          It must have worked because he saw her coming back to him. It looked like she would land only minutes before the fleet did. There would be no running away from them—they would have to face the First Order head on. Kylo just hoped they still feared him enough to listen to him.

          Rey was dismounting from the ship as the other ships were landing nearby. She rushed over to Kylo Ren, looking angry.

          “Did you call them?” she demanded.

          “No, I swear,” he replied, still watching the landed fleet carefully. He knew Rey was probably hurt and confused by their sudden appearance but he couldn’t worry about that just yet. Now, his only concern was keeping her alive.

          “What do we do?” Rey asked, her tone still forceful.

          He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Trust me,” he told her. “That’s all I need you to do right now.”

          Within minutes, the Storm Troopers had disembarked from their ships and were marching over to where Kylo and Rey stood. Once there, they paused and then parted so that a man in a black hat and uniform flanked by two more Storm Troopers could pass to the front. Kylo nearly groaned when he realized who the man walking up to them was.

          “Well Ren, I didn’t think we would ever find you,” General Hux called when he was a few feet away from them. Kylo could see he was grinning smugly. “What the hell are you wearing?”

          Kylo Ren stepped forward, ready to set his plan into motion. “Scavenger rags,” he replied. “Not my first choice obviously, but my clothing wouldn't allow me to work on fixing my ship out here in the desert.”

          Hux was sneering now, a sneer which somehow managed to increase when he caught sight of Rey. “Who’s the girl, Ren? A play thing you found? She’s filthy, but I have to admit she looks pretty enough to fuck.”

          He knew Rey must be bristling with indignation and ready to beat Hux to a pulp with her staff. Quickly, Kylo replied “Oh yes, she is quite the hidden gem on this planet. I caught her while she was trying to scavenge parts off my ship and made her my own.” He turned around and approached Rey, who looked like she was more than ready to murder him. Kylo stroked her neck then gave her a wink and whispered “Play along.”

          Rey’s expression did not change but he could see in her eyes that she had understood what was happening. Reaching up, she slapped his hand away. “Enough! Don’t you give me enough of that in bed?”

          Hux threw back his head and laughed. “My, it seems like you have yet to tame that scavenger rat. Here, put these on her and you can bring her along as a souvenir.” He tossed Kylo Ren a pair of First Order cuffs then gestured for him to follow. “We must be on our way now. Supreme Leader Snoke has commanded your presence as soon as you get back to base.”

          Kylo clenched his fists and readied himself for the next part of the lie. If this did not work then their situation was about to get much more difficult to escape from. “I’m going to take my ship,” he called to Hux. “As luck would have it, I just finished it today. That is why the girl is out here with me—I made her test fly it for me so that I could take us both back to Starkiller Base.”

          “Liar!” Rey cried, storming over to his side. “You promised me my freedom after I test-flew your ship for you.”

          Using the Force, Kylo froze her then put the cuffs on her wrists. “I’m sorry, _sweetheart,_ but the pleasure you bring me is too good to be left behind on this miserable planet. You’re coming with me so I can continue to enjoy you.”

          Hux smirked. “I must say, Kylo Ren, I never knew you had such an affinity for women. I always assumed your work interfered with—ah— _other_ aspects of life.”

          Kylo turned to glare at him. “Do not forget who you’re talking to, Hux,” he growled. “I can throw you up into the atmosphere and laugh as your body compresses and freezes in the void of space.”

          The General’s smirk faded and he cleared his throat. “Hurry up and get the girl into your ship then. The Supreme Leader does _not_ like to be left waiting.” With that, he beckoned to the Storm Troopers and they all marched after him, back towards their ships. Climbing on board once more, the fleet took off from the planet and shot up into the sky.

          “I am definitely going to get you back for that later,” Rey grumbled. “But thank you for getting us out of that.”

          “Thank me when we’re safely out of reach of the First Order,” he said, ushering her back to the ship. “Climb on board so we can get out of here.”

          When Rey didn’t move, he sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I played it the way I did but it was the only way they’d let me take you with me. I’ll make it up to you once we’re safe.”

          “That’s not it,” she said. She held up her still-cuffed wrists. “I can’t exactly climb anything like this now, can I?”

          He grinned. “You’d be surprised. Here, I’ll just help you up in case they’re still watching.” Kylo used the Force energy to lift Rey off the ground and deposit her in the cock pit behind the pilot’s seat. “I know it’s a little cramped but get as comfortable as you can. We’ve got a long flight ahead of us.”


End file.
